Evidently, almost 800 years of civilization doesn’t mean squat to Kit Bond.
….No free man shall in future be arrested or imprisoned or disseised of his freehold, liberties or free customs, or outlawed or exiled or victimised in any other way, neither will we attack him or send anyone to attack him, except by the lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay right of justice…
The Constitution doesn’t seem to have too much influence with him, either:
…The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it…
The United States Senate couldn’t get enough votes to stop the fillibuster of the amendment to restore habeas corpus.
Vote Summary
Question: On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Specter Amdt. No. 2022 )
Vote Number: 340
Vote Date: September 19, 2007, 10:47 AM
Required For Majority: 3/5
Vote Result: Cloture Motion Rejected
Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 2022 to S.Amdt. 2011 to H.R. 1585 (National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008)
Statement of Purpose: To restore habeas corpus for those detained by the United States.
Vote Counts:
YEAs 56
NAYs 43
Not Voting 1…Bond (R-MO), Nay
McCaskill (D-MO), Yea
They needed 60 votes, they got 56.
Now, does anyone need a reminder about why we all voted for Claire McCaskill in 2006?
Claire has let us down with her FISA vote and her tepid attitude about getting out of Iraq. What the left wants is another Russ Feingold in Missouri. What we’ve got is closer to Hillary. That’s still a mile or two better than Talent. Wasn’t it Maher who said, not too long ago, that after Bush he’d welcome a merely mediocre president?
but I tried all morning to get through to Bond’s DC office and I swear they had taken the phone off the hook.
I’m happy Claire did not break with the party on this vote. I wish she would do some local interviews and point out that Bond filibustered the bill and how disappointed she is that it didn’t get an up or down vote as it deserved and wonder why he thinks bills don’t deserve up or down votes as the Republicans always demanded when THEY were in power.
The Democrats are not managing the press on this. They have essentially conceded that any bill must have at least 60 votes to pass and they aren’t going to fight that perception or try to change that reality.
So in my mind the Democratic votes in favor were not enough in more than one sense of the word. They needed to vote for Cloture and NOW they need to get out and start getting the public worked up over all of these constant filibusters.