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No fortitude from Florida

The compromise reached in the U.S. Senate Monday offers hope for the future of the institution. It's unfortunate that neither of our senators was a part of it.

How long detente will last in the U.S. Senate is anybody's guess. Yet the bipartisan agreement signed by 14 senators that ended the showdown over President Bush's judicial nominees and the Senate's rules regarding filibusters offers hope in an era where compromise is a dirty word. The most discouraging aspect of the deal is that Florida's senators, Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Mel Martinez, did not summon the courage displayed by some of their colleagues to publicly stand up for reason and consensus.

Nelson said Tuesday he participated in early negotiations but did not sign the agreement because he preferred to be unnamed. His lack of intestinal fortitude does not reflect the leadership expected of a moderate incumbent seeking re-election next year. Martinez has had a terrible start in Washington, fumbling an oil drilling deal and leading the misguided effort to intervene in the Terri Schiavo controversy. He missed an opportunity to redeem himself and demonstrate that his proclaimed interest in changing the atmosphere in Washington is more than empty rhetoric.

Florida's senators could look to South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham for guidance on leadership regardless of the political consequences. Graham supported the Republican "nuclear option," which would have resorted to trickery to change Senate rules, eliminated the use of the filibuster on judicial appointments and forced a majority vote on all nominees. Yet he risked the considerable wrath of fellow conservatives in outside interest groups, the Senate and his home state to help craft the compromise. The seven Republicans and seven Democrats also included a mix of mavericks such as John McCain, R-Ariz.; old salts such as Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., and John Warner, R-Va.; and Mike DeWine, an Ohio Republican prepared to vote to change the rules.

The compromise produced immediate results. The Senate voted 81-18 Tuesday to end the filibuster on the nomination of Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen to a federal appellate court, and she likely will be confirmed today. Two other controversial nominees, William H. Pryor Jr. and Janice Rogers Brown, also will get floor votes. Republicans agreed to drop efforts to kill the filibuster, and Democrats agreed to use the maneuver in the future only in extraordinary circumstances. This is the reasonable give-and-take that bipartisanship can produce, and it is an example that should extend to other legislation.

The filibuster, which takes 60 votes to end in the 100-member Senate, has been abused by both political parties and should be used sparingly. But preserving it protects the deliberative character of the Senate and ensures that the minority cannot be trampled by the majority. No president, including this one, should expect all of his judicial nominees to be confirmed merely because his political party controls the Senate.

Interest groups on both sides don't like compromise. They will continue to agitate for an all-or-nothing apocalypse, which still could come when a vacancy occurs on the Supreme Court. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., are pawns of these groups and failed to lead. That left it to 14 senators to stop the insanity that could have caused irreparable harm to the institution. Floridians can only hope that one day they have a senator equal to such a challenge.

[Last modified May 25, 2005, 00:39:15]