Conservative Christian Leaders Call Judicial Filibusters A Threat To ‘The Future Of Democracy And Ordered Liberty’*

Tomorrow, the U.S. Senate will turn its attention once again to judicial confirmations. With 84 federal judgeships currently vacant — about one in 10 — and the courts struggling to handle their caseloads, Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has been pushing for votes on 19 people nominated by President Barack Obama and endorsed by the Senate Judiciary Committee — most with unanimous or near-unanimous bipartisan support. Unfortunately, only two of these completely uncontroversial nominees will receive votes tomorrow.

Senate Republicans who persist in obstructing these nominees would do well to listen to the advice they received from Christian conservative leaders* such as Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Lou Sheldon, Rod Parsley, Frank Pavone, Miguel Rivera, Tony Perkins, Gary Bauer, and Rick Scarborough, who slammed judicial filibusters as, in Dobson’s words, a direct attack on “the future of democracy and ordered liberty.”

Watch some highlights here:

*These religious leaders made these claims when George W. Bush was president. But, of course, that doesn’t matter because — in the words of Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) — “we need to treat all nominees exactly the same, regardless of whether they’re nominated by a Democrat or a Republican president.”**

**Cornyn’s statement was also made when George W. Bush was president.

Center for American Progress Action Fund intern Linda Benesch contributed to this report.