Laryngitis fails to halt Hatch in talkathon

WASHINGTON — Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch picked a lousy time to develop laryngitis. It struck just as he led Republicans into beginning a 30-hour "Justice for Judges" talkathon Wednesday on the Senate floor.

But hoarseness didn't stop Hatch, R-Utah, from adding his temporarily froglike voice to the GOP chorus calling for an end to Democratic filibusters against several pro-life, conservative judicial nominees, many of whom are minorities.

"This is a constitutional disaster waiting to happen unless we stand up now and do what has to be done," Hatch said at a press conference launching the talk marathon.

Republicans began a floor debate Wednesday evening expected to go all night Wednesday, all day Thursday and into the early morning hours of Friday. Hatch and others planned to stay near the floor, and catch a little sleep in their offices.

They hope the stunt will catch attention. "The point of this exercise is to educate the American people about what happened with the unprecedented use of the rules of the Senate to filibuster the president's nominations," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

Hatch said that up to 15 GOP nominees face Democratic filibusters, or use of rules and long speeches to block a final vote on their confirmations. The only way to stop a filibuster is with a three-fifths majority "cloture" vote. Republicans hold only 51 of the Senate's 100 seats, far short of the 60 needed for cloture.

Democrats say that is the only way they can stop nominees whom they contend are outside the judicial mainstream. They say many are so deeply pro-life on abortion, for example, that they may not be able to follow the law. Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., also said of the talkathon, "If they need help filibustering themselves, we'll be glad to pitch in."

Daschle said Democrats will spend their half of the talkathon discussing the economy and their record on Bush's judicial nominees.

Hatch and Republicans argue that filibusters against judicial nominees violate the Constitution because it calls for only a simple majority for confirmation, while use of the filibuster now essentially requires 60.

"What we have in essence is an amending of the Constitution without going through the process," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.