Progressive Student Caucus at Vassar announces support of Princeton Filibuster group; drafts letter to Senate Majority Leader.
Poughkeepsie, NY - The Progressive Student Caucus (vassarprogress.blogspot.com), a caucus of Vassar student groups and their leaders, has announced its alliance with campus professors in support of the Princeton-based "Filibuster Frist" movement now underway at college campus's around the country (Official Website: FilibusterFrist.com). Universities currently involved in the rapidly growing movement to prevent the elimination of the judicial filibuster through the "nuclear option" include Harvard, Cornell, Georgetown, Howard, Trinity, Stanford, George Washington, Boston College, Tufts, Boston University, Northeastern, Wellesley College, Carleton College, American University and Yale.
As part of its support of the growing movement the caucus has drafted an open letter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist:
The Honorable Bill Frist
Majority Leader, United States Senate
Dear Senator:
The Progressive Student Caucus of Vassar College is opposed to the elimination of the Filibuster on judicial nominations and supports the efforts of the rapidly growing movement on college campuses around the country, especially those of the nationally recognized group from your alma mater, Princeton University. The Filibuster is a 217-year-old senate tradition that has historically been used by both Democrats and Republicans while in the minority. The elimination of the filibuster for judicial nominations sets a dangerous precedent that will result in the elimination of the filibuster altogether. The founders understood minority party rights as a vital safeguard against the tyranny of the majority. The Senate, in particular, was thought by the founders to be "a saucer into which the nation's passions may be poured to cool," as Jefferson once put it. The Filibuster is essential in this respect; its elimination, by leaving the passions of the majority party unfettered, is a danger to American democracy. These changes will result in an undoing of the checks and balances that are so fundamental a part of our government and could lead, as the founders feared, to tyranny.
The Republican Leadership claims that the role of the Senate in judicial nominations is one of "advice and consent" as laid out in the United States Constitution and thus only requires an up/down vote by its members. The Leadership has used this argument as a justification for elimination of the judicial filibuster, which has been used by Democrats to block votes on only 10 of president Bush's 204 nominees during his first term in office. Senate Republicans, by contrast, blocked over 60 of President Clinton's judicial nominees, often through the actions of only one Senator rather than a substantial minority of 41, by refusing to schedule committee hearings and delaying committee votes. Clearly, the arguments of the Republican leadership are inconsistent with its past actions. As the American Enterprise Institute has shown, of the last five presidents, President Bush has had the highest judicial nominee confirmation rate at 96.6%. President Clinton's confirmation rate was 87.9%.
Moreover, while the Republican Party has a majority of the seats in the Senate, its senators represent a minority of the national population: The 55 Republican Senators represent 131 million Americans, while the 44 Democratic Senators represent 144 million Americans. The Party's claim that elimination of the filibuster represents the views of "mainstream" America is, therefore, spurious at best. The Progressive Student Caucus of Vassar College is asking you, Senate Majority Leader Frist, to reconsider the irreparable damage that will be done to American democracy with the elimination of the filibuster on judicial nominations. You were chosen to be a wise leader, please lead the country with wisdom.
Signed,
Anesa Diaz-Uda, Class of 2007 (President 2004-05)
The Members of the Student Activist Union
Dennis Farr, United Students Reformation Party (Chair)
Kaitlyn Hipple, United Students Reformation Party (Secretary)
Matthew Morse, American Civil Liberties Union, Vassar Chapter (President) & Class of
2007 (President-Elect)
Kathleen Russell, Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance (Chair)
Isella Ramirez, MEChA de Vassar (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano/a de Aztlan)
(President)
Francesc Marti, Forum for Political Philosophy (Co-President)
Adam Beitman, Forum for Political Philosophy (Co-President)
Christopher Binetti, Forum for Political Philosophy (Vice President)
Andrew Engler, Forum for Political Philosophy (Secretary)
Ross Weingarten, Varsity Basketball
Kelly Peterman, Democratic Activist
Kari Kretch, Democratic Activist
Alison Lotto, Democratic Activist
Faculty
Professor Jennifer Church, Department of Philosophy
Professor Leslie Offutt, Department of History (Associate Professor)
and Program in Latin American and Latino/a Studies (acting Director)
Professor Shirley Johnson-Lans, Department of Economics
Professor Christopher Kilby, Department of Economics (Associate)
Professor Leonard Nevarez, Department of Sociology
Professor Jean Kane, Department of English (Assistant)
Professor Michael Joyce, Department of English and Media Studies
Professor Dean Crawford, Department of English (Adjunct Associate)