Pete Sessions: “I agree so strongly with the Senator from South Carolina that this has the real danger of undermining the independence…”

“I agree so strongly with the Senator from South Carolina that this has the real danger of undermining the independence of the judiciary and injecting politics into the judiciary in a way we do not want to do. I had the opportunity to obtain information from one of our greatest understanders of Senate rules on holds. I think I would like to share that with the Presiding Officer, Senator Enzi, who is as skilled on the history of the Senate as anyone. He just notes this: What is a hold? A hold is a request by a Senator to be notified so a unanimous consent request can be objected to. If somebody is going to move a bill, legislation, or a judge, and you want to talk more about it or so forth, you put a hold. They have to call you before they will do a unanimous consent without your knowledge and slip something through you want to talk about or debate. It is not a filibuster. A filibuster would be a continuous success by less than a majority of the Senators to stop progress to a vote in an action or a matter. It is a success continually by a minority of the Senate to stop the majority from bringing a matter to a vote. A cloture, more than a majority, stopped by a minority, 55 votes for cloture to stop debate, can be defeated by 45 Senators who vote contrary to that, is a filibuster, as has been admitted by the Senators on the other side. I think we have been playing some games with words, but the bottom line is what has occurred this year is unprecedented.”