The following comes from a Nov. 21 story on LifeNews.com.
Democrats and abortion activists are gleefully cheering a vote Senate Democrats took today to abolish the filibuster. The immediate effect of the vote is that Senate Democrats can quickly approve pro-abortion nominees President Barack Obama has sent forward for lower courts.
But, are there unintended consequences?
One unintended consequence is that future sessions of the Senate, controlled by Republicans, could eliminate the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees and a nominee who could be the deciding vote to overturn Roe v. Wade could be confirmed. The Supreme Court is generally thought to be divided 5-4 in favor of Roe at this time.
Ed Whelan, writing at National Review, mulls over the possibility that Senate Democrats cooked their own goose.
“I will note, though, that I don’t see how Reid can abolish the filibuster vis-à-vis pending judicial nominees without setting a clear precedent that would enable a future Senate majority, in the very midst of a confirmation battle over a Supreme Court nominee, to abolish the filibuster with respect to that nominee,” he writes….
It’s for that very reason that abortion activists opposed the elimination of the filibuster when Republicans considered it years ago. As Roll Call reports:
The dilemma for groups like Planned Parenthood is clear: Back the nuclear option for victories on issues like birth control now, and you’ll increase the risk that a Republican president will be able to put hostile nominees on the bench in the future.
Planned Parenthood was among the liberal groups most active against the 2005 effort by the Senate’s Republican majority at the time to get President George W. Bush’s federal appellate nominees confirmed to the bench with simple majority votes — a point still clear on the organization’s website.
A May 2005 news release remains among the top Google search results for Planned Parenthood’s views on changing the Senate’s procedures with respect to judicial nominations with a simple majority vote. The release includes statements from Karen Pearl, the interim president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 2005.
To read the entire story, click here.
This is a convoluted way of thinking. To eliminate the filibuster to achieve a single objective is foolish. If we truly want to eliminate the curse of abortion we need to control the judiciary, a branch of the government Obama is now engaged in stuffing with as many liberal pro-abortion judges as he can. We must defeat the democrat party of death and sodomy at the ballot box. As long as we are led by liberal bishops our fate is sealed. They will never condemn their own party since they support the welfare state, universal socialized medicine and liberal wealth transfer policies. They are therefore willing to swallow a few snakes like abortion, and even same sex marriage, if they have to, to safeguard their larger “social justice” objectives.
Anton, You have said it all. Thank you.
The premise of the article is rather absurd. The elimination of the filibuster applies to appointments of judges and administrative appointments. It frees Obama to appoint very radical judges and Harry Reid will get the nominations approved without much the opposition can do. How in the WORLD can anyone interpret that to be an advantage for the pro-life cause ? That supposition is ridiculous in the extreme. It was a disaster for the pro-life cause, at best.
Wishful thinking. We live under the tyranny of the Culture of Death right now. Barack Hussein Obama will inflict as much damage as he possibly can. And Hilary Clinton too.
The Republican party will never appoint a fifth judge to the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade. There will always be a reason not to, even if it has to be invented, as Roberts did with Obamacare.
This is absolute nonsense! No federal pro-life legislation has ever been held up by a filibuster.
That’s correct, since abortion is a throughly bi-partisan issue, it has never needed one,