Author: Kyle Bell

Categories
News

Biden backs filibuster reform

In an important shift, President Biden now appears to be on board with reforming the filibuster.

According to Vanity Fair:

Biden indicated in an interview Tuesday that while he remains set against eliminating the filibuster entirely, he will support efforts to reform it, making the procedure what he says it was originally “supposed to be.” “I don’t think that you have to eliminate the filibuster. You have to do it what it used to be when I first got to the Senate back in the old days,” Biden told George Stephanopoulos in an ABC News interview. “You had to stand up and command the floor. You had to keep talking.”

Biden, who spent decades in the upper chamber, reveres the body’s traditions and, both as senator and vice president to Barack Obama, was known for his knack for bipartisan dealmaking. In ascending to the presidency after four years of polarization under Donald Trump, Biden expressed confidence that cooperation between Democrats and Republicans would be possible and that he could work within the existing system to deliver for the American people. He’s by no means abandoning those aspirations. But, he acknowledged to Stephanopoulos, the filibuster has helped bring the Senate to the point where “democracy is having a hard time functioning.”

That should be a welcome line for the growing number of Democrats who have called for the filibuster to be eliminated or reformed, particularly with Mitch McConnell and the GOP threatening to exploit the tool to thwart efforts to fight back against their disenfranchisement crusade in states across the country. (McConnell on Tuesday blasted efforts to reform the filibuster, saying it was the only thing preventing a “scorched-earth Senate.”) “He’s being vague about it, but that’s alright…As a student and creature of the Senate, he certainly knows how to choose his words carefully on this subject,” said Senator Dick Durbin of the interview. “But I think he’s acknowledging the obvious: the filibuster has really shackled the Senate.” Biden isn’t going as far as some progressives would like, but reforming the filibuster to make it more difficult to use is something that could still make a difference in terms of the power McConnell’s minority party can wield. 

If you follow us regularly, you’ll know that we are supporters of reforming or eliminating the filibuster. The filibuster stands in the way of pro-democracy reforms like the For the People Act and Washington DC statehood. The filibuster is also stymying efforts to combat state-level voter suppression.

Having the president of the United States as an ally to your cause is important, especially if you want to convince members of his party to change the rules in the Senate.

Watch the relevant part of the interview below:

Categories
News

President Carter condemns Georgia voter suppression efforts

President Jimmy Carter has released a statement condemning voter suppression efforts and calling for “fair, open, and secure” elections.

The former president is a resident of Georgia. Republicans in the state legislature are pushing voting restrictions following President Joe Biden’s win in the traditionally-Republican state in November. Democrats won two subsequent runoffs for United States Senate seats in January.

The statement reads:

In 1962, I ran to represent the 14th Senate District in the Georgia legislature. I won my Senate seat, but only after the courts ruled that a ballot box had been illegally “stuffed” with votes for my opponent. My experience with our election system was one of the reasons Rosalynn and I created The Carter Center. Since 1989, we have observed 113 elections in 39 countries and helped build consensus on standards for democratic elections, perhaps the most fundamental of which are the rights to vote and be elected.

One thing we have learned from our international work is that while states must safeguard the integrity of the election process to prevent fraud, this should not be at the expense of voters’ access to the polls. They should proactively expand voter access through safe, secure administrative practices.

Since that 1962 Senate race, Georgia has established itself as a leader in providing voter access and taking steps to enhance election integrity. Georgia now uses technologies that provide a paper trail allowing voters to review their ballot before it is cast. In addition, Georgia requires post-election risk-limiting audits that make it possible to check the accuracy of voting machines. Indeed, November saw a successful set of elections with record turnout and few or no fraudulent ballots counted—which should make us all proud.

Now, as our state legislators seek to turn back the clock through legislation that will restrict access to voting for many Georgians, I am disheartened, saddened, and angry. Many of the proposed changes are reactions to allegations of fraud for which no evidence was produced—allegations that were, in fact, refuted through various audits, recounts, and other measures. The proposed changes appear to be rooted in partisan interests, not in the interests of all Georgia voters.

I also am disappointed that advocates for these restrictive changes have repeatedly and selectively referenced a report prepared by a 2005 commission that I co-chaired with former Secretary of State James Baker. While our report noted a few good and bad examples of vote-by-mail practices, its main recommendation was that further study of voting by mail was needed. In the 16 years since the report’s release, vote-by-mail practices have progressed significantly as new technologies have been developed. In light of these advances, I believe that voting by mail can be conducted in a manner that ensures election integrity. This is just one of several ways to expand access to the voting process for voters across the state, regardless of political affiliation.

American democracy means every eligible person has the right to vote in an election that is fair, open, and secure. It should be flexible enough to meet the electorate’s changing needs. As Georgians, we must protect these values. We must not lose the progress we have made. We must not promote confidence among one segment of the electorate by restricting the participation of others. Our goal always should be to increase, not decrease, voter participation.

Photo Credit: Children’s Bureau Centennial, Flickr

Categories
Opinion

A fair and democratic compromise on the filibuster

The filibuster remains in the news as a hurdle to progress on everything from the minimum wage to voting rights. So here is a proposal on the filibuster that everyone should be able to support.

Rather than completely eliminate it – as I’ve argued in the past – the Senate could modify its rules so that in order to filibuster a bill, you have to physically stand at a lectern, speak, and hold the floor for as long as you can stand. Let’s call it the Mr. Smith Goes to Washington rule.

In that classic American film, Jimmy Stewart’s character talks non-stop on the Senate floor for 25 hours in a bid to delay a corrupt appropriations bill and defend his own reputation against scandalous (and completely fabricated) accusations.

The Mr. Smith Goes to Washington rule would give the minority party the chance to delay a bill and rally the American people against it. If a bill is as bad as opponents claim, they could still potentially stop it. However, it would not give a minority of senators a veto that does not exist in the Constitution. Once opponents cede the floor, the bill moves to a vote.

It’s a fair and democratic compromise. Opponents of a bill will still have an opportunity to slow and potentially kill unpopular legislation. Meanwhile, it will restore the concept of majority rule in the Senate and make it a functioning governing body again.

Photo Credit: John Brighenti, Flickr, CC BY 2.0

Categories
News

Supreme Court dismisses Trump’s remaining election lawsuits

The United States Supreme Court has formally rejected eight election-related lawsuits still pending even after President Joe Biden took office.

According to Reuters:

The justices turned away appeals by the Republican Party of Pennsylvania and Republican members of the state legislature of a ruling by Pennsylvania’s top court ordering officials to count mail-in ballots that were postmarked by Election Day and received up to three days later.

Three of the nine-member court’s six conservative justices – Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch – dissented from the decision not to hear the Pennsylvania case.

Trump, a Republican, lost his re-election bid to Democrat Joe Biden, who took office on Jan. 20. Biden defeated Trump by more than 80,000 votes in Pennsylvania and the legal case focused on fewer than 10,000 ballots.

The high court, as expected, also rejected two Trump appeals challenging Biden’s victories in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin based on claims that the rules for mail-in ballots in the two election battleground states were invalid. The court also turned away separate cases brought by Trump allies in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia and Arizona – all states won by Biden.

This is yet another defeat for Trump from the conservative-dominated United States Supreme Court. Back in December, the Supreme Court rejected a last-ditch effort to overturn Pennsylvania’s election results.

Photo Credit: Wally Gobetz, Flickr

Categories
Analysis News

Washington DC statehood gains momentum

As part of the new Congress, Democrats are prioritizing several pro-democracy reforms – including statehood for Washington DC. On Wednesday, Democrats in both the House and Senate introduced legislation that puts DC on the path to becoming the 51st state.

As NBC News reports:

The measure was reintroduced in the House by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat who represents the District of Columbia, and its companion was unveiled in the Senate by Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del. As of Tuesday evening, Norton said that she had more than 200 co-sponsors in the House.

“There’s never been a time when statehood for the District was more likely,” Norton said in a statement, adding the bill was passed by the House last year for the first time and now had a “record” 202 co-sponsors. With the Senate companion bill also gaining co-sponsors, “we’re ready to achieve voting representation and full local self-government for the 712,000+ residents of the District of Columbia,” she said.

As others have pointed out, DC has more residents than the states of Wyoming and Vermont (and DC residents pay federal taxes), yet it has no representation in the House or Senate. Eleanor Holmes Norton has served as DC’s non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives since 1991.

The Democratic-controlled House made history last year when it passed a bill to make DC a state. That bill died in the Republican-controlled Senate. Following the 2020 elections and the Georgia Senate runoffs earlier this month, the Senate is split evenly. Democrats nominally control the chamber thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote.

The prospects in the Senate are bleak if Democrats fail to abolish the anti-democratic filibuster, which allows a minority of senators to block legislation. We’ve argued that the Senate should abolish the filibuster to pass pro-democracy reforms like DC statehood.

In fact, the Senate’s ability to ban political gerrymandering ahead of redistricting, pass stricter anti-corruption and nepotism laws, impose new disclosure requirements for donors and super PACs, and enact universal voter registration hinges on abolishing or dramatically reforming the filibuster.

Photo Credit: Mike Maguire, Flickr, CC BY 2.0

Categories
Analysis Opinion

The filibuster is anti-democratic. It’s time to eliminate it.

The newly-elected Democratic majority in the Senate is currently debating whether to keep or nix the filibuster. There are strong policy, political, and Constitutional arguments for eliminating the filibuster – and there is little reason to preserve it.

The policy case for killing the filibuster

Small states are already overrepresented in the United States Senate and the Electoral College. When you add a supermajority requirement to pass major legislation – a requirement that does not exist in the Constitution (more on that later) – you only give small states even more power. It is a de facto veto power for small-state senators like Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham. It’s also a veto for insurrectionists like Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz.

As the insurrection demonstrates clearly, safeguarding our elections and ensuring voting rights must be a top priority of President Biden and Congress. It is simply unacceptable to let Mitch McConnell veto any progress on some of the biggest issues of our time – be it a ban on political gerrymandering ahead of redistricting, stricter anti-corruption and nepotism laws, new disclosure requirements for donors and super PACs, universal voter registration, and so many more badly-needed reforms.

Much of President Biden’s agenda hinges on eliminating the filibuster. It is true that Democrats can bypass the filibuster with an arcane process known as budget reconciliation – a process that only requires a majority vote in the Senate – but it is only limited to budget-related priorities. Election reform and strengthening ethics laws, for instance, likely does not pass muster under reconciliation.

In addition, Republicans still have a majority on several Senate committees even though they are now in the minority. New members like Mark Kelly, Raphael Warnock, and Jon Ossoff have yet to even receive their committee assignments. McConnell is seeking to tie the hands of the new Democratic majority.

Will the Democratic majority willingly accept this arrangement? And if they do, will Democratic voters forget come 2022 and 2024? I think not.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer needs to use every tool at his disposal to ensure that Democrats can govern. That means killing the filibuster and changing the Senate’s rules to limit GOP obstruction. The American people expect results, not excuses.

From a policy perspective, the filibuster is absolutely noxious. During the Obama years, the filibuster effectively killed the DREAM Act, common-sense gun control, cap-and-trade climate change legislation, and a myriad of other progressive priorities. Meanwhile, filibusters did not stop the Bush or Trump tax cuts, which were passed through a majority vote using budget reconciliation.

Likewise, McConnell used reconciliation in his attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. “Obamacare”). The effort only failed because Senate Republicans lacked even a simple majority in support of repeal. (Senator McCain infamously gave the bill a thumbs down on the Senate floor.)

From a public policy point of view, it’s nearly impossible these days to get a 60-vote consensus on basic governance, let alone controversial issues. The minority party can use this power – which is not found in the Constitution – to stifle any semblance of progress. Indeed, a minority of senators from states already overrepresented in the Senate can grind the lawmaking process to a complete halt. This is not the way to govern a country.

The political case for killing the filibuster

Nearly eight years ago, I penned a piece titled “It’s Time to Kill the Filibuster.”

The context was different then, but the points remain the same today. To briefly recap, Senate Republicans blocked President Obama’s judicial nominees, including three nominees to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals – which is regarded as the second-most powerful court in the land. Not only did Republicans weaponize the filibuster to stymie popular legislation, but they also denied President Obama’s judicial appointments an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.

Democrats wisely responded with the nixing of the filibuster for cabinet-level and judicial nominees. They left an exception in place for the Supreme Court. But they acted far too slowly and ultimately ceded control of the chamber after the 2014 midterm elections. Two years later, Trump won the Electoral College with narrow wins in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – but failing to capture the national popular vote.

Wielding their newfound power and taking full advantage of the Obama-era vacancies that they engineered – including a SCOTUS seat after refusing to even hold hearings for President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland – the GOP rammed its judicial nominees through the Senate. As soon as the filibuster got in their way, they killed it for Supreme Court nominees. Unlike Democrats, they did not hesitate.

They acted decisively after the death of Justice Ginsburg as well, voting on her replacement a mere week before the election – four years after saying that voters should decide a vacant Supreme Court seat in an election year.

None of President Trump’s nominees – Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett – would be on the court today if not for Mitch McConnell’s use of the so-called “nuclear option” to kill the filibuster. What would have been a 5-4 liberal majority with Garland on the Court became a 6-3 conservative majority thanks to Republicans’ obstruction tactics and their swift reversal on the filibuster when it became politically expedient.

The lesson that Democrats should learn from this is that they should use their power when they have it to advance the public good – within the constraints of the Constitution. There is no constitutional right to the filibuster. In fact, I would argue that the filibuster itself is unconstitutional.

The Constitutional case for killing the filibuster

The Constitution requires the president to nominate judges and the Senate to offer its “advise and consent.” (The same is also true for Cabinet appointments, ambassadorship, etc.) That means debating and voting on nominations.

Confirmation requires only a majority threshold, something that the filibuster expressly denies. The Constitution does not grant the power to block lawfully-nominated judges for seats on the federal bench with a minority of votes. Republicans have essentially short-circuited the Constitution to suit their political goals.

The country was founded on the principle of majority rule. Indeed, the Vice President’s sole role – other than acting as the successor to the president in the case of death, resignation, or removal – is to cast a tie-breaking vote in an evenly divided Senate. The Founders expected the Senate to be a majority body and nothing else – except in specific circumstances, as outlined in the Constitution. Only a few exceptions require more than a majority: ratifying treaties, Constitutional amendments, and convicting an impeached president or members of the Cabinet.

I am not a constitutional scholar, but I can read the plain text of the Constitution and see that the Founders’ obvious intent was for the Senate to be a body where the majority carried the day – with few exceptions. So why keep this relic that makes an undemocratic body even less democratic?

The choice is clear. The filibuster must be eliminated.

Photo Credit: John Brighenti, Flickr, CC BY 2.0

Categories
Analysis News

Nearly two dozen law enforcement or military members identified among Capitol insurrectionists so far

The extent to which current and former law enforcement and members of the military participated in the attack on the Capitol is coming into clearer view. Nearly two dozen have already been identified “as being at or near the Capitol riot, with more than a dozen others under investigation but not yet named.”

According to a report from the Associated Press:

As President Donald Trump’s supporters massed outside the Capitol last week and sang the national anthem, a line of men wearing olive-drab helmets and body armor trudged purposefully up the marble stairs in a single-file line, each man holding the jacket collar of the one ahead.

The formation, known as “Ranger File,” is the standard operating procedure for a combat team that is “stacking up” to breach a building — instantly recognizable to any U.S. soldier or Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was a chilling sign that many at the vanguard of the mob that stormed the seat of American democracy either had military training or were trained by those who did.

An Associated Press review of public records, social media posts and videos shows at least 21 current or former members of the U.S. military or law enforcement have been identified as being at or near the Capitol riot, with more than a dozen others under investigation but not yet named. In many cases, those who stormed the Capitol appeared to employ tactics, body armor and technology such as two-way radio headsets that were similar to those of the very police they were confronting.

Experts in homegrown extremism have warned for years about efforts by far-right militants and white-supremacist groups to radicalize and recruit people with military and law enforcement training, and they say the Jan. 6 insurrection that left five people dead saw some of their worst fears realized.

The involvement of law enforcement and ex-military appears to be extensive. Beyond direct involvement, some members of law enforcement have sympathized with insurrectionists. The president of the Chicago Police Department union, John Catanzara – an outspoken Trump supporter – defended Capitol insurrectionists and falsely claimed that there was no violence before pivoting and pointing the finger at BLM protests last summer. The CPD union endorsed Trump last fall and elected Catanzara as their president.

In short, this calls for a thorough nationwide investigation to root out white supremacists who have infiltrated law enforcement and the military. These men dishonored their oaths and are a serious threat to public safety – particularly people of color. Anything less is an invitation to more acts of insurrection and police-involved murders of unarmed people of color.

Categories
News

Liz Cheney, number three House Republican, backs impeachment

Liz Cheney dramatically became the highest-ranking House Republican to back the impeachment of President Donald Trump nearly a week after a deadly Trump-inspired insurrection at the US Capitol.

Cheney serves as Chair of the House Republican Caucus, which makes her the third-highest ranking Republican in the House of Representatives. She represents one of the most Republican states in the country: Wyoming. In fact, Donald Trump performed better in Wyoming than any other state during the 2020 presidential election. And if you are wondering, yes, she is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Here is Cheney’s full statement:

On January 6, 2021 a violent mob attacked the United States Capitol to obstruct the process of our democracy and stop the counting of presidential electoral votes. This insurrection caused injury, death and destruction in the most sacred space in our Republic.

Much more will become clear in coming days and weeks, but what we know now is enough. The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.

“I will vote to impeach the President.”

Photo Credit: Milonica, CC BY-SA 3.0

Categories
News

Arnold Schwarzenegger compares Capitol coup attempt to Kristallnacht

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former actor and two-term governor of California, offers perhaps the starkest portrait of Wednesday’s coup attempt from a leading Republican voice in the United States.

In a recording published on YouTube, Schwarzenegger offers his thoughts on the Capitol riot and reflects on life growing up in Austria shortly after the fall of the Nazi regime.

As an immigrant of this country, I would like to say a few words to my fellow Americans and to our friends around the world about the events of recent days.

I grew up in Austria. I’m very aware of Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass. It was a night of rampage against the Jews carried out in 1938 by the Nazi equivalent of the Proud Boys. Wednesday was the Day of Broken Glass right here in the United States. The broken glass was in the windows of the United States Capitol.

But the mob did not just shatter the windows of the Capitol. They shattered the ideas we took for granted. They did not just break down the doors of the building that housed American democracy. They trampled the very principles on which our country was founded.

I grew up in the ruins of a country that suffered the loss of its democracy. I was born in 1947, two years after the Second World War. Growing up, I was surrounded by broken men drinking away the guilt over their participation in the most evil regime in history.

Not all of them were rabid anti-Semites or Nazis. Many of them just went along step-by-step down the road. They were the people next door.

Schwarzenegger goes on to call Trump a “failed president” who will “go down in history as the worst president ever.” He is just as unsparing of other members of his own party – particularly Congressional Republicans – who he called “spineless” and “complicit.”

You can watch Schwarzenegger’s full comments below:

Categories
Analysis Opinion

January 6, 2021: Trump’s failed coup attempt is a ‘date which will live in infamy’

Seventy-nine years ago last month, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in an unprovoked attack on America.

The nation was never the same after that day. President Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress to declare war, drawing the United States into World War II. In one of the most quoted lines in presidential history, Roosevelt remarked that December 7, 1941 – the day of the attack – was a “date which will live in infamy.”

One could argue that January 6, 2021 is the 21st-century equivalent of that day – except instead of a foreign power attacking the United States, it was an attack from within.

For months, the defeated outgoing president attempted a soft coup, hoping to overturn a free and fair presidential election through frivolous lawsuits and other machinations that one could only dream up in a poorly-written fiction novel. Trump bullied and threatened state officials – many of them Republican allies – to do his dirty work for him. Thankfully, these efforts went nowhere; Republican state officials, like Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, held their ground.

When those attempts failed – including a futile effort to have Vice President Mike Pence disregard the will of voters and the certifications of several states – the desperate aspiring dictator turned to his supporters in a long-shot push to cling on to power. At a rally filled with lies where he trashed his own vice president and allies in Congress, Trump riled the crowd into a frenzy and directed his supporters to head to the Capitol.

The mob breached the Capitol’s inexcusably (and perhaps intentionally) lax security, damaged federal property, and forced lawmakers convened in a joint session of Congress into hiding. At the end of the historic day, five people were dead, including a police officer.

The consequences of this day will not be known for some time, but it is safe to say that – like after the attack on Pearl Harbor – our country has changed forever. What happens in the days, weeks, and months to come – including decisions on whether to invoke the 25th Amendment or impeach the president – will be consequential. The legal and professional consequences for the insurrectionists, co-conspirators, and their enablers in Congress and elsewhere may well determine whether there are future attempts to violently thwart American democracy.

If this brazen attack on our democracy goes unanswered in the waning days of the Trump presidency and the early days of the Biden presidency, there almost assuredly will be a repeat of this day not far down the line – and that coup attempt may very well succeed.

Image Credit: Tyler Merbler, Flickr, CC BY 2.0