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The Gang of 14 (sometimes called the Mod Squad, with "mod" standing for "moderate") was a term coined to describe the bipartisan group of moderate Senators who successfully negotiated a compromise to avoid the deployment of the so-called nuclear option over the organized use of the filibuster by Senate Democrats in opposition to judicial nominees in the U.S. Senate in early 2005. It consists of 7 Republicans and 7 Democrats led by Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) and John McCain (R-Arizona). The informal group was active again in July 2005, attempting to advise Bush on the choice of a nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. On November 3, 2005, the group met to discuss the nomination of Samuel Alito to the high court, but came to no conclusions, noting that the hearing process has only just begun. On January 30, 2006, the members of the group unanimously supported a cloture vote in the Alito nomination, providing more than enough votes to prevent the filibuster. In a two-party system (such as in the United States), bipartisan refers to any bill, act, resolution, or any other action of a political body in which both of the major political parties are in agreement. ...
Seal of the Senate The United States Senate is one of the two chambers of the Congress of the United States, the other being the House of Representatives. ...
The expression nuclear option, as used in American politics circa 2005, is a catchphrase referring to a political maneuver that would allow the US Senate majority (currently Republicans hold 55 of 100 seats) to prevent the minority party (currently Democrats) from filibustering judicial nominees, making it easier for the President...
In a legislature or other decision making body, a filibuster is an attempt to extend debate upon a proposal in order to delay or completely prevent a vote on its passage. ...
The Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ...
This article is about the modern United States Republican Party. ...
The Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States, the other one being the Republican Party. ...
Earl Benjamin Nelson (born May 17, 1941 in McCook, Nebraska) to English-American parents. ...
Official language(s) English Capital Largest city Lincoln Omaha Area Ranked 16th - Total 77,421 sq mi (200,520 km²) - Width 210 miles (340 km) - Length 430 miles (690 km) - % water 0. ...
John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) is an American politician. ...
Official language(s) None Capital Largest city Phoenix Phoenix Area Ranked 6th - Total 113,998 sq mi (295,254 km²) - Width 310 miles (500 km) - Length 400 miles (645 km) - % water 0. ...
Sandra Day OConnor (born March 26, 1930) is a former American jurist and politician who served as the first female Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. ...
Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr. ...
The Gang of 14 made an agreement whereby the seven Democrats would no longer vote along with their party on filibustering judicial nominees (except in "extraordinary circumstances"), and in turn the seven Republicans would break with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and the Republican leadership on voting for the "nuclear option." Due to the near-tie in votes between the two parties, the agreement of these Senators practically prevents either side from winning a simple majority to pass either the filibuster or the change to congressional rules. While infuriating their party leaderships [citation needed], the group members were hailed as moderates who put aside the severe partisanship to do what was best for the Senate. The Senate Majority Leader is a member of the United States Senate who is elected by his or her party conference to serve as the chief Senate spokesman for his or her party and to manage and schedule the legislative and executive business of the Senate. ...
William Harrison Frist (born February 22, 1952 in Nashville, Tennessee) is a Republican U.S. Senator from Tennessee, who was formerly a cardiac surgeon. ...
Look up Partisan (political) in Wiktionary, the free dictionary In politics, a partisan is a person who supports a cause, party, or goal fervently, usually to the exclusion of all others. ...
The deal has been strongly criticized by both Democratic and Republican partisans. Nevertheless, the compromise precludes further filibusters or the nuclear option for as long as the Gang of 14 holds together.
The name may be loosely derived from the Gang of Four, a group of Communist Party officials who were accused of abuse of power in China during the 1970s. The Gang of Four on trial The Gang of Four (Simplified: 四人帮; Traditional: 四人幫; Hanyu Pinyin: ) was a group of Communist Party leaders in the Peoples Republic of China who were arrested and removed from their positions in 1976, following the death of Mao Zedong, and were blamed for the events...
The Communist Party of China (CPC) (official name) or Chinese Communist Party (CCP) (Simplified Chinese: ä¸å›½å…±äº§å…š; Traditional Chinese: ä¸åœ‹å…±ç”£é»¨; Pinyin: ZhÅngguó GòngchÇŽndÇŽng) is the ruling political party of the Peoples Republic of China. ...
The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ...
Members
Republicans John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) is an American politician. ...
Lindsey Olin Graham (born July 9, 1955) is an American politician from South Carolina. ...
John William Warner (born February 18, 1927) is an American statesman and politician, who served as Secretary of the Navy from 1972-1974 and has served as a Republican senator from Virginia since 1979. ...
Olympia Jean Bouchles Snowe (born February 21, 1947 in Augusta, Maine) is a Republican politician and the senior United States senator from Maine. ...
Susan Margaret Collins (born December 7, 1952 in Caribou, Maine) is the junior U.S. Senator from Maine and a Republican. ...
Richard Michael Mike DeWine (born January 5, 1947) is an American politician from Ohio. ...
Lincoln Davenport Chafee (born March 26, 1953) is a United States Senator from Rhode Island. ...
Democrats Joseph Isadore Lieberman, (born February 24, 1942) is a Democratic U.S. senator from Connecticut, best known as Al Gores running mate on the Democratic ticket in 2000. ...
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Robert Byrd Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Robert Byrd Robert Carlyle Byrd (born November 20, 1917) is a West Virginia Democrat serving in the United States Senate. ...
Earl Benjamin Nelson (born May 17, 1941 in McCook, Nebraska) to English-American parents. ...
Mary Loretta Lynn Landrieu (born November 23, 1955) is a Democratic United States Senator for the state of Louisiana. ...
Daniel Ken Inouye (born September 7, 1924) is a recipient of the Medal of Honor and currently serves as the senior United States Senator from Hawaii. ...
Mark Lunsford Pryor (born January 10, 1963) is a politician in Arkansas. ...
Kenneth Lee Salazar (born March 2, 1955) is an American politician, rancher, and environmentalist from the U.S. state of Colorado. ...
The compromise Because of the split of the Senate – 55 Republicans, 44 Democrats and 1 Democrat-aligned independent – if six Senators from each party could reach an agreement, it was realized that these twelve could both forestall the nuclear option and force cloture on nominees. With a cloture vote scheduled on the nomination of Priscilla Owen – the opening move in firing the nuclear option – for Tuesday, May 24, 2005, and with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Minority Leader Harry Reid having evidently given up all pretense of finding a compromise (each have been accused of having desired the nuclear showdown for their own political ends), the minds of traditionalists and moderates in both parties were focused on finding some alternative way out. In the end, seven Senators from each party got behind a compromise which stated, in essence, that Democrat filibusters would come to an end in "all but extraordinary circumstances," and the GOP would not use the nuclear option. In parliamentary procedure, cloture (pr: KLO-cher) (also called closure) is a motion or process aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. ...
Priscilla Owen (born in Palacios, Texas, October 4, 1954) is a judge in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. ...
The Senate Majority Leader is a member of the United States Senate who is elected by the party conference which holds the majority in the Senate to serve as the chief Senate spokesman for his or her party and to manage and schedule the legislative and executive business of the...
William Harrison Frist (born February 22, 1952 in Nashville, Tennessee) is a Republican U.S. Senator from Tennessee, who was formerly a cardiac surgeon. ...
The Senate Minority Leader is a member of the United States Senate who is elected by his or her party conference to serve as the chief Senate spokesmen for his or her party and to manage and schedule the legislative and executive business of the Senate. ...
Harry Mason Reid (born December 2, 1939) is the senior United States Senator from Nevada and a member of the Democratic Party, for which he serves as Senate Minority Leader. ...
The text of the compromise is as follows:
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING ON JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS We respect the diligent, conscientious efforts, to date, rendered to the Senate by Majority Leader Frist and Democratic Leader Reid. This memorandum confirms an understanding among the signatories, based upon mutual trust and confidence, related to pending and future judicial nominations in the 109th Congress. This memorandum is in two parts. Part I relates to the currently pending judicial nominees; Part II relates to subsequent individual nominations to be made by the President and to be acted upon by the Senate’s Judiciary Committee. We have agreed to the following: Part I: Commitments on Pending Judicial Nominations A. Votes for Certain Nominees. We will vote to invoke cloture on the following judicial nominees: Janice Rogers Brown (D.C. Circuit), William Pryor (11th Circuit), and Priscilla Owen (5th Circuit). B. Status of Other Nominees. Signatories make no commitment to vote for or against cloture on the following judicial nominees: William Myers (9th Circuit) and Henry Saad (6th Circuit). Part II: Commitments for Future Nominations A. Future Nominations. Signatories will exercise their responsibilities under the Advice and Consent Clause of the United States Constitution in good faith. Nominees should be filibustered only under extraordinary circumstances, and each signatory must use his or her own discretion and judgment in determining whether such circumstances exist. B. Rules Changes. In light of the spirit and continuing commitments made in this agreement, we commit to oppose the rules changes in the 109th Congress, which we understand to be any amendment to or interpretation of the Rules of the Senate that would force a vote on a judicial nomination by means other than unanimous consent or Rule XXII. We believe that, under Article II, Section 2, of the United States Constitution, the word “Advice” speaks to consultation between the Senate and the President with regard to the use of the President’s power to make nominations. We encourage the Executive branch of government to consult with members of the Senate, both Democratic and Republican, prior to submitting a judicial nomination to the Senate for consideration. Such a return to the early practices of our government may well serve to reduce the rancor that unfortunately accompanies the advice and consent process in the Senate. We firmly believe this agreement is consistent with the traditions of the United States Senate that we as Senators seek to uphold.
Results and possible results As a result of the agreement, Priscilla Owen was confirmed 55-43, Janice Rogers Brown was confirmed 56-43, and William Pryor was confirmed 53-45. The other two nominees mentioned, William Myers and Henry Saad, have not yet been confirmed, and the compromise made no promise to invoke cloture on them, indicating that the Gang of Fourteen agreed that these judges met the "extraordinary circumstances" requirement for filibustering. Priscilla Owen (born in Palacios, Texas, October 4, 1954) is a judge in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. ...
Janice Rogers Brown Janice Rogers Brown (born in Greenville, Alabama, May 11, 1949) is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. ...
William Holcombe Pryor, Jr. ...
William Myers is a nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. ...
Henry W. Saad was, until March 23, 2006, a nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. ...
The immediate and proximate political result was the curtailing of Democratic filibusters and the short-term end to the "nuclear option" debate. Sen. Orrin Hatch has characterized this as "a truce, not a ceasefire", and the potential for resumption of hostilities is obvious: the compromise rules out Democratic Filibusters in "all but extraordinary circumstances", yet the day after the compromise was announced, Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid provocatively announced in a speech on the Senate floor that in his view, the Democrats were already using the filibuster in only "extraordinary circumstances". Equally, a provocative attempt by Sen. Carl Levin to shut the door on the nuclear option by obtaining a ruling from the chair – at that moment, Senator John Sununu – that the filibuster had been yielded as constitutional by the compromise, failed; the Republican leadership, thus, retains the nuclear option. Thus, moderates on both sides have claimed victory, and partisans on both sides have claimed defeat. Orrin Grant Hatch (born March 22, 1934 in Pittsburgh) is a five-term Republican United States Senator, from Utah. ...
In U.S. politics, the minority leader is the Floor Leader of the second-largest caucus in a legislative body. ...
Harry Mason Reid (born December 2, 1939) is the senior United States Senator from Nevada and a member of the Democratic Party, for which he serves as Senate Minority Leader. ...
Carl Milton Levin (born June 28, 1934) is a Democratic United States Senator from Michigan. ...
John Sununu is the name of two U.S. politicians: John H. Sununu, Governor of New Hampshire (1983-1989) and White House Chief of Staff for George H. W. Bush (1989-1991) John E. Sununu, his son, U.S. Congressman (1997-2003) and U.S. Senator (2003-present) This is...
The compromise was further tested by the confirmation battle over the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy left by Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement. A number of Democratic senators attempted a filibuster; however, the entire Gang of 14 voted for cloture, which passed by 72 to 24 (with 60 "aye" votes needed to end the filibuster). Several members of the Gang of 14 then voted against confirming Alito, including Republican Lincoln Chafee. Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr. ...
Sandra Day OConnor (born March 26, 1930) is a former American jurist and politician who served as the first female Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. ...
President George W. Bush announces that Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. ...
For the time being, the forging of the compromise has tilted Senate power towards moderates; Senator Lindsey Graham has suggested that the shift of political center of gravity caused by the emergence of the Gang of 14 could be extended to finding a solution to an issue like the reform of Social Security; Democrats have pledged to block the reforms proposed by President Bush, and both Graham and Olympia Snowe have signalled their opposition to certain aspects of the President's reforms. Whether the remaining 5 Republicans would go along with such an extension is as yet unclear. Lindsey Olin Graham (born July 9, 1955) is an American politician from South Carolina. ...
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States and a former governor of Texas. ...
Olympia Jean Bouchles Snowe (born February 21, 1947 in Augusta, Maine) is a Republican politician and the senior United States senator from Maine. ...
The filibuster revisited In April of 2006, Senate Republicans began pushing for the confirmation of two controversial conservative court of appeals nominees who had not been included in the Gang of 14 deal of 2005, district court judge Terrence Boyle and White House aide Brett Kavanaugh [1]. Boyle had been first nominated to the Fourth Circuit in 2001 and Kavanaugh to the D.C. Circuit in 2003. Senate Democrat leader Harry Reid immediately expressed concern over both nominees [2] [3], threatening to possibly filibuster each one. On May 3, 2006, the seven Democrat members of the Gang of 14 wrote a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee requesting a second hearing for Kavanaugh [4]. That request was granted the next day [5]. On Tuesday, May 9, Kavanaugh appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his second hearing. Later that same day, the Gang of 14 met to discuss his nomination as well as the nomination of Boyle which had become embroiled in a debate concerning Boyle's failure to recuse himself in several cases. After the meeting, South Carolina senator Lindsay Graham declared that he saw no "extraordinary circumstances" concerning Kavanaugh's nomination. However, several Republican members of the "Gang" refused to address the status of Boyle. The Democrat members said they would request a second hearing for Boyle like they had done earlier for Kavanaugh [6]. On Thursday, May 11, Kavanaugh was voted out of committee on a party line vote of 10-8 [7].
Terrence W. Boyle (born December 22, 1945 in Passaic, New Jersey) is a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. ...
This article belongs in one or more categories. ...
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: District of Maryland Western, Middle, and Eastern Districts of North Carolina District of South Carolina Western and Eastern Districts of Virginia Northern and Southern Districts...
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, known informally as the D.C. Circuit, is the federal appellate court for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. ...
Harry Mason Reid (born December 2, 1939) is the senior United States Senator from Nevada and a member of the Democratic Party, for which he serves as Senate Minority Leader. ...
The U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary (informally Senate Judiciary Committee) is a standing committee of the United States Senate, the upper house of the United States Congress. ...
Lindsey Olin Graham (born July 9, 1955) is an American politician from South Carolina. ...
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