Wayne Allard: “I rise this morning to clear up the apparent confusion and misinformation surrounding the confirmation of judicial…”

“I rise this morning to clear up the apparent confusion and misinformation surrounding the confirmation of judicial nominations. I hope to shed some light on one of our most important obligations and express to the American people the truth about the partisan obstruction of our constitutional duties. Article II of the Constitution, known as the advice and consent clause, requires Senate approval of judicial nominations. This obligation is only fulfilled when the Senate allows an up or down vote on a nominee. The vote acts as an expression of the body's ``advice and consent,'' but this expression simply cannot occur if it is blocked by a filibuster. I strongly believe that the use of a filibuster to block judicial nominations is not only unprecedented minority obstruction but an attack on the Constitution itself. The decision to vote on a judicial nomination or to obstruct the nominee pits the Constitution against a mere tool of parliamentary procedure; that is the Constitution versus a Senate rule called the filibuster. I urge my colleagues to put our faith in the founding document, not a filibuster rule. To do otherwise degrades the Constitution and relegates it to the level of an arbitrary rule of procedure. Let me make it clear. I am not going to stand idly by as parliamentary maneuvers run roughshod over the Constitution and centuries of Senate practices. The Republican majority is not establishing new precedent.…”