May 19, 2005
(Washington, DC) – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) joined with her colleagues from the Congressional Black Caucus in delivering a letter to Senate Majority Leader William Frist (R-Tenn.) stating the CBC’s opposition to eliminating the use of the filibuster and to the nomination of judges with extremist views on civil and human rights this morning. The letter explained the irony of how the filibuster, which historically was used to block laws beneficial to African Americans, would now be changed to nominate judges with radical views that could be detrimental to African Americans.
The text of the letter follows:
May 19, 2005
The Honorable William Frist
Majority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator Frist:
As the Senate moves for the first time toward possible elimination of the filibuster, the 43 members of the Congressional Black Caucus believe that we have a special obligation to deliver this letter and attempt to speak to you personally about this issue. We have also met with Democratic Senators to express our unanimous view that Rule XXII providing for extended debate on all Senate matters must be maintained.
The Senate insisted that the minority rights of Senators were absolute when the filibuster was used for a hundred years almost exclusively to defeat the human rights of African Americans. During all those years, Rule XXII was so impenetrable that despite the documented lynchings of 6,000 African Americans and the open and notorious denial of the right of African Americans to vote, proponents of their rights finally ceased trying to enact even the most essential bills – anti-lynching legislation after three attempts in the 1920s and 1930s and anti-poll tax legislation after three attempts in the 1940s.
All of the major legislation that today bars racial discrimination in voting, employment and housing was passed after filibusters, requiring cloture to obtain the necessary votes. Racial filibusters continued in the 1970s, even for extensions of the Voting Rights Act and of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Southern Democrats almost always led the racial filibusters, but they were always joined by some conservative Republicans. We recite this history to emphasize that minority rights in the Senate are no less important today than they were when the Senate insisted on the rights of the minority that delayed each and every attempt to enforce the 14th and 15th Amendments for a century.
The filibuster was systematically used when Senate minority rights meant the denial of the rights of African Americans. We cannot and will not stand down when Senate minority rights are proposed to be over-ruled against a Senate minority that seeks to protect the rights of African Americans. Today, when a minority of Senators seeks to protect African Americans from judges who have opposed their rights and laws critical to their advancement toward equality, the proposal to use an unprecedented procedure to jettison the Rule for the first time would be particularly offensive to people of color. We believe that the unbroken tradition of fair treatment for the Senate minority must be respected regardless of the identity of the minority or of its issues.
Violating Senate rules in order to overturn Rule XXII is especially unacceptable to us today in light of the repeated and disproportionate use of filibusters against the nominations of Black, Hispanics and women nominees in the Judiciary Committee during the prior administration. Despite President Clinton’s collaboration with Senator Orrin Hatch and the resulting confirmation of some judges, 60 Clinton nominees were denied hearings or votes in the Judiciary Committee. We expressed our deep concern at the time that a large portion of those who did not emerge from the Committee were nominees of color and women.
We have looked closely at the records and expressed views of the disputed nominees. We oppose their confirmation to the federal judiciary because their documented views on civil and constitutional rights are so extreme that they have been discredited and rejected by most Americans and because of their demonstrated hostility to the discipline of judicial precedent and to the laws Congress has passed to protect workers, women, persons with disabilities and the environment.
You and other senators are entitled to differ with us on particular nominees. The members of the Congressional Black Caucus believe that we are entitled to request that you respect the Senate rules that have never favored the Senate majority, even in the face of the tragic consequences that we know all too well.
Sincerely,
______________________________ ________________________________
Melvin L. Watt Eleanor Holmes Norton
Chair, CBC Judicial Nominations Chair, CBC
All 43 of the Members of the Congressional Black Caucus
###
Barbara Lee and Congressional Black Caucus Deliver Letter to Senator Frist Opposing Elimination of the Filibuster
Letter Opposes the Nomination of Judges with Extremist Views on Civil and Human Rights
(Washington, DC) – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) joined with her colleagues from the Congressional Black Caucus in delivering a letter to Senate Majority Leader William Frist (R-Tenn.) stating the CBC’s opposition to eliminating the use of the filibuster and to the nomination of judges with extremist views on civil and human rights this morning. The letter explained the irony of how the filibuster, which historically was used to block laws beneficial to African Americans, would now be changed to nominate judges with radical views that could be detrimental to African Americans.
The text of the letter follows:
May 19, 2005
The Honorable William Frist
Majority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator Frist:
As the Senate moves for the first time toward possible elimination of the filibuster, the 43 members of the Congressional Black Caucus believe that we have a special obligation to deliver this letter and attempt to speak to you personally about this issue. We have also met with Democratic Senators to express our unanimous view that Rule XXII providing for extended debate on all Senate matters must be maintained.
The Senate insisted that the minority rights of Senators were absolute when the filibuster was used for a hundred years almost exclusively to defeat the human rights of African Americans. During all those years, Rule XXII was so impenetrable that despite the documented lynchings of 6,000 African Americans and the open and notorious denial of the right of African Americans to vote, proponents of their rights finally ceased trying to enact even the most essential bills – anti-lynching legislation after three attempts in the 1920s and 1930s and anti-poll tax legislation after three attempts in the 1940s.
All of the major legislation that today bars racial discrimination in voting, employment and housing was passed after filibusters, requiring cloture to obtain the necessary votes. Racial filibusters continued in the 1970s, even for extensions of the Voting Rights Act and of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Southern Democrats almost always led the racial filibusters, but they were always joined by some conservative Republicans. We recite this history to emphasize that minority rights in the Senate are no less important today than they were when the Senate insisted on the rights of the minority that delayed each and every attempt to enforce the 14th and 15th Amendments for a century.
The filibuster was systematically used when Senate minority rights meant the denial of the rights of African Americans. We cannot and will not stand down when Senate minority rights are proposed to be over-ruled against a Senate minority that seeks to protect the rights of African Americans. Today, when a minority of Senators seeks to protect African Americans from judges who have opposed their rights and laws critical to their advancement toward equality, the proposal to use an unprecedented procedure to jettison the Rule for the first time would be particularly offensive to people of color. We believe that the unbroken tradition of fair treatment for the Senate minority must be respected regardless of the identity of the minority or of its issues.
Violating Senate rules in order to overturn Rule XXII is especially unacceptable to us today in light of the repeated and disproportionate use of filibusters against the nominations of Black, Hispanics and women nominees in the Judiciary Committee during the prior administration. Despite President Clinton’s collaboration with Senator Orrin Hatch and the resulting confirmation of some judges, 60 Clinton nominees were denied hearings or votes in the Judiciary Committee. We expressed our deep concern at the time that a large portion of those who did not emerge from the Committee were nominees of color and women.
We have looked closely at the records and expressed views of the disputed nominees. We oppose their confirmation to the federal judiciary because their documented views on civil and constitutional rights are so extreme that they have been discredited and rejected by most Americans and because of their demonstrated hostility to the discipline of judicial precedent and to the laws Congress has passed to protect workers, women, persons with disabilities and the environment.
You and other senators are entitled to differ with us on particular nominees. The members of the Congressional Black Caucus believe that we are entitled to request that you respect the Senate rules that have never favored the Senate majority, even in the face of the tragic consequences that we know all too well.
Sincerely,
______________________________ ________________________________
Melvin L. Watt Eleanor Holmes Norton
Chair, CBC Judicial Nominations Chair, CBC
All 43 of the Members of the Congressional Black Caucus
###