At a press availability a few minutes ago, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) provided some history about the judicial filibuster:

Let me just remind everyone that in the latter part of the Clinton years there were two Democratic nominees for the 9th Circuit, in which California is located, that many Republicans considered, quote, outside the mainstream, Berzon and Paez.

There were 20 or 25 Republicans who wanted to defeat Berzon and Paez with a filibuster. Then Majority Leader Trent Lott teamed up with Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, cloture was filed, and many of us voted to invoke cloture on Berzon and Paez, even though we thought they were clearly outside the mainstream….

Among the group of senators who wanted to filibuster Paez was current Majority Leader Bill Frist. Sen. Frist voted against closure, even though Paez’s nomination had been pending for four years.

Of course, his own conduct hasn’t stopped Frist from repeatedly demagoguing against the judicial filibuster.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has been a busy man these last few years. Whether bribing congressmen, threatening political opponents, vacationing with lobbyists, or gutting House ethics rules, it’s been hard to keep up with all the Hammer’s activities. Here are thirteen highlights from DeLay’s illustrious career:

DELAY KILLED INVESTIGATION INTO LABOR ABUSE IN MARIANAS ISLANDS: In 1998, DeLay helped kill a “congressional fact-finding trip that was being planned as part of an investigation of sweatshop conditions in the garment industry in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.” Jack Abramoff represented the Northern Mariana Islands at the time, aiding them in their quest to avoid U.S. labor laws. To this end, Abramoff flew dozens of lawmakers and their aides for luxurious vacations to the balmy islands, including one 1997-98 New Year’s trip for DeLay and his wife. (It was on this trip that DeLay called Abramoff “one of my closest and dearest friends.”) Later that year, Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) decided to leading a fact-finding investigation into worker abuse in the islands’ garment industry. When DeLay caught wind of the investigation, his office threatened the Hoekstra with loss of his subcommittee chairmanship if he continued.

DELAY RAISED CORPORATE CASH FOR TRMPAC: DeLay is embroiled in a scandal in Texas for his active participation in illegally funneling corporate funds to assist state political campaigns. DeLay’s political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), is under criminal investigation for using corporate money to finance Texas campaigns. DeLay has tried to distance himself from the group, but documents show DeLay “personally forwarded at least one large check” to the group and was “in direct contact with lobbyists for some of the nation’s largest companies” on TRMPAC’s behalf. [Source: NYT, 3/10/05; Salon, 10/04/04]

DELAY BRIBED CONGRESSMAN TO VOTE FOR MEDICARE: DeLay has admitted offering to endorse Sen. Nick Smith’s (R-MI) son Brad, who was running for Congress at the time, in exchange for Smith’s “yea” vote on the Medicare bill. His actions violated House rules and earned DeLay a “public admonishment” from the Ethics Committee. Smith originally alleged — and then retracted after pressure from House leaders — that DeLay also offered a $100,000 bribe for his vote. DeLay extended the role call on the Medicare bill for nearly three hours in order “to avoid an embarrassing loss.” [Slate, 10/1/04; WP, 10/1/04] Read more

Workers for United Airlines are mad as hell and not going to take it any more.

The crowd of very angry current and former workers for United Airlines which showed up at the company’s bankruptcy hearing today was so big the hearing had to be postponed. Why so angry?

United Airlines is trying to dump its pension plan. That’s right, the company wants a judge to approve the default and let it shift its pension plan to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. If that happens, United workers will lose about a quarter of their total pensions.

Pensions aren’t a handout for retired workers. They are money that’s owed to them. Workers take smaller salaries in return for better pensions; as American Progress economist Christian Weller explains it, taking that money away is akin to your boss paying you $20,000, then turning around a year later and demanding $2,000 of that money back. It’s just wrong.

It’s not the first promise United Airlines has broken to retirees. In 2003, the company sweet-talked about 2,500 flight attendants into taking early retirement, telling them if they retired early, they could keep better health benefits. A few short months later, all but yelling, “Suckers!”, United doublecrossed the former workers, cutting those very same health benefits.

United Airlines. Flying the unfriendly skies.

Yesterday, President Bush again called for up or down votes on several of his extreme right wing nominees to federal courts. In the second sentence of his statement he noted:

[Justice Priscilla Owen and Judge Terry Boyle] have been rated well-qualified by the American Bar Association, the highest ABA rating a judicial nominee can receive.

It’s interesting that President Bush would place such high value on ratings issued by the ABA, when way back in March of 2001 his own administration excluded the ABA from their traditional pre-approval role in the nominations that dated back to Eisenhower in 1953. An Associated Press story at the time noted:

Bush’s decision to kick the ABA out of the nomination process was driven largely by Capitol Hill conservatives still bitter over the failure of President Reagan’s nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. Many conservatives see the ABA as liberal-leaning and blame its mixed review of Bork’s qualifications for his rejection by the Senate.

Even Bush’s father stuck by the ABA — not a single one of his 194 nominations to the federal bench were rated “unqualified” by the organization. But the current President Bush has chosen to rely on ultra-right organizations like the Federalist Society to evaluate his choices.

- Theo LeCompte