Heidi Alexander: “we have a vote at noon. I know there are a number of Senators who wish to speak. I will take about 5 minutes, I suspect…”

“we have a vote at noon. I know there are a number of Senators who wish to speak. I will take about 5 minutes, I suspect Senator Cornyn wants to speak, and I know Senator Grassley wants to speak. I also see Senator Reid. The Senate is a body of precedent. One important precedent is that never in the Senate history has a President's district court nomination, reported by the Judiciary Committee, been defeated because of a filibuster; that is, because of a cloture vote. Once a nominee for Federal district judge has gotten to the floor, the majority of Senators have made the decision in an up-or-down vote. Therefore, I will vote for cloture in order to allow an up-or-down vote on the President's nomination of John McConnell, then I will vote ``no'' on confirmation because I believe he is a flawed nominee. I know most of my Republican colleagues are going to register their opposition to Mr. McConnell by voting to deny an up-or-down vote. I respect their decision. I understand how they feel. I also was outraged in 2003 when Democratic Senators filibustered President Bush's circuit court nominees simply because they disagreed with their philosophies. I made my first speeches on the floor of the Senate arguing against such a change in precedent. On February 27, 2003, I said on this floor: When it comes time to vote, when we finish that whole examination, I will vote to let the majority decide.…”