Gang of 14 - Impact On The 2006 Election

Impact On The 2006 Election

Although strongly criticized by both Democratic and Republican partisans at the time, the compromise was successful in precluding further judicial filibusters or the use of the nuclear option during the rest of the 109th Congress. As noted before, the Gang of 14 deal was instrumental in permitting Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito an up-or-down vote, as his vote for confirmation (58 for to 42 against) would not have been adequate to overcome a party-line filibuster (i.e. did not equal or exceed 60 votes). The 2006 elections, however, saw Republican members Lincoln Chafee (R-Rhode Island) and Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) replaced by Democrats Sheldon Whitehouse and Sherrod Brown, respectively. Tolerance for Bush's judicial nominees was among the criticism the Democratic winners leveled against their incumbent Republican opponents, and the elections as a whole handed control of the Senate to the Democrats.

After the November 7, 2006 election in which Democrats picked up six additional Senate seats in the 110th Congress, President Bush again renominated the six candidates whose nominations had been sent back to him in September. The Judiciary Committee chairman, Senator Specter, however, said that he would not process these nominees during the lame duck session of the 109th Congress.