Frank Lautenberg: “the Senate Web site points to one incident from 1964 to the present time. October 1, 1968: ``Filibuster Derails Supreme…”

“the Senate Web site points to one incident from 1964 to the present time. October 1, 1968: ``Filibuster Derails Supreme Court Appointment.'' Why don't our colleagues on the other side take their heads out of the sand, open their eyes, read the record, and tell the public the truth? In 1968, Abe Fortas, Supreme Court Justice, was filibustered. The Senate failed to invoke cloture on Fortas. There were only 45 votes for cloture. Some say this is proof that a majority of the Senators did not support Fortas. But President Johnson thought otherwise, noting that 12 Senators were absent for the cloture vote. And here from 1968 is a page 1, first-page headline in the Washington Post. It says: ``Filibuster Derails Supreme Court Appointment.'' A full-dress Republican-led filibuster broke out in the Senate yesterday against the motion to call up the nomination of Justice Abe Fortas for Chief Justice. The public ought to know what is being said. Unfortunately, in the urgency to get this done, they are not being accurate in the things that are said by the Republican majority. So in 1968--note this, people across the country--on a nomination to be the most influential judge in the country, there was a filibuster. I am not a lawyer, but it seems to me that those who say this has not happened before are guilty of factual negligence. The right to filibuster is fundamental to the Senate because the Senate was created by our Constitution to protect the rights of the minority.…”