‘We’re Not Touching Judges’

Senate Democrats Once Opposed Using The Nuclear Option To Pack The Courts

July ‘13 – Dems Promised ‘We're Not Touching Judges’

QUESTION: “In 2005, you said that changing these rules would be a black chapter in the history of the country. It would ruin our country and that you should not be able to willy-nilly change the rules of the Senate. Isn't this being a little hypocritical about changing the rules now?” SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): “...I -- I wasn't talking about changing the rules for nominees. I was talking about changing the rules for judges. OK?”(Sen. Reid, Remarks At The Center For American Progress Action Fund, 7/15/13)

• SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): “We’re not touching judges. That's what they were talking about. This is not judges.” (NBC’s “Meet The Press,” 7/14/13)
• SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): “We're not talking about changing the filibuster rules that relates to nominations for judges. …this is not about judges.” (NBC’s “Meet The Press,” 7/14/13)

SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D-OH): “…I think any president should have the ability to put people in place for the -- at the pleasure of the president. These are not judges. That's a whole another issue.” (MSNBC, 7/9/13)

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): “…I don't understand why for these nominees, I'm not talking about judges here, I'm talking about the president's team, of which there are currently over 180 people that are just pending right now before the Senate for the Executive Office nominations. Why we can't just do 51 votes is beyond me.” (ABC’s “This Week,” 7/14/13)

Dems Called It ‘An Outrageous Abuse Of Power’

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): “…the so-called nuclear option… attempt to rewrite Senate rules so we would be another House of Representatives; that we would throw away the Constitution of the United States so the Federal courts could be packed.” (Sen. Reid, Congressional Record, S.8911, 9/5/06)

• REID: “We stand united against an outrageous abuse of power that would pack the courts with out-of-the-mainstream judges.” (Sen. Reid, Congressional Record, S.5198, 5/16/05)

SEN. PAT LEAHY (D-VT): “…on the brink of a terrible moment in the United States Senate when the majority leader would break the rules to change the rules in order to achieve the President's goal of packing the courts.” (Sen. Leahy, Congressional Record, S.6288, 6/9/05)

• LEAHY: “The American people deserve better than what we have seen with the destruction of rule after rule by a majority willing to sacrifice the role of the Senate as a check and balance in order to aid a President determined to pack the Federal courts. It is the courts themselves that serve as the check on the political branches. Their independence is critical and must be preserved.” (Sen. Leahy, Congressional Record, S.5387, 5/18/05)

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): “Sadly, they have many allies in high places--allies in the Senate who are willing to break the rules of the Senate to change the rules of the Senate … pack the Federal courts with judges more of their liking, judges who are not activist by their definition. Today their allies in the Senate are willing to use the nuclear option to destroy the filibuster and to really destroy our system of checks and balances.” (Sen. Durbin, Congressional Record, S.5288, 5/17/05)

SEN. PATTY MURRAY (D-WA): “By stripping the Senate of its constitutional role, we are seeing the effort to pack the courts with radical judges, push an extreme agenda, and leave millions of Americans behind.” (Sen. Murray, Congressional Record, S.5420, 5/18/05)

SEN. JACK REED (D-RI): “It is important that we do not let another President try to pack the courts. The Senate cannot become merely a rubberstamp for any President. The independence of the courts is critical to protecting the Constitution and the rights of individuals.” (Sen. Reed, Congressional Record, S.4468, 4/28/05)

SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D-CA): “We are not going to do this. We are not going to see a packing of the courts. We are going to preserve the filibuster.” (Sen. Boxer, Congressional Record, S.6198, 6/8/05)

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