Senate ends GOP filibuster over judicial appointment
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The Senate this afternoon voted to end a GOP filibuster over a judicial appointment, with some Republicans crossing the aisle in a rare display of bipartisanship.
In a 70-29 vote, Democrats voted to end the filibuster and move along the nomination of U.S. District Judge David Hamilton to The 7th Circuit appellate court, which serves Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. The full Senate will now get a chance to debate the nomination.
Sixty votes were required to end the filibuster.
Conservative Republicans have held up the Hamilton nomination since June. They argued that Hamilton’s decisions made his promotion questionable.
Specifically, they criticized his rulings against Christian prayers in the Indiana Legislature and complained that he had struck down part of an abortion law on the grounds it created an undue burden on women seeking to end a pregnancy.
Democrats argued that President Obama was entitled to have his nominees reviewed without Republicans blocking them through filibuster.
Judicial appointments are often contentious and partisan. In 2005, 14 senators reached a bipartisan agreement that essentially stopped Democratic filibusters of President George W. Bush’s judicial nominees except in extraordinary circumstances.
--Michael Muskal
