The U. S. Senate’s treatment of nominee Roland Burris is a perfect example of how warped our Congress has become.
Almost all of Washington comes out smelling bad.
Over-posturing as “anti-corruption” and with hubris befitting King George III of old, the Senate’s top two leaders, Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., tried to dictate who could join their elite country club on the Hill. Their public comeuppance is well-deserved.
The GOP missed the boat by not loudly and immediately speaking up for Burris. Rather than standing strong for the rule of law, they used the mess merely to score cheap political points on Democrats. A principled stand by Republicans could have garnered respect from blacks and other minorities. Instead, they blew it.
The normally astute Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas – a former Texas Supreme Court chief justice – typified GOP elevation of politicking over the rule of law with his statement, “I agree that this selection process has been tainted, and Mr. Burris should not be seated,” while asking “[whether] Senator Reid was trying to play kingmaker.”
Even incoming President-Elect Barack Obama acquiesced to whatever tune Sen. Reid chose to call.
Sens. Reid and Durbin, however, are the cause of the outrage.
As Reid infamously claimed, “We determine who sits in the Senate. And the House determines who sits in the House. So there’s clearly legal authority for us to do whatever we want to do. This goes back for generations.”
It’s only such arrogance that is ancient.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich may indeed be a corrupt weasel of a politician. Or not. But he remains the governor of Illinois with the legal authority and duty to fill a Senate vacancy. His authority and duty is no less than that of governors in Delaware, New York and Colorado, who also must fill empty seats created by the Obama administration.
Anyone concerned that Burris somehow “bought” his Senate appointment from felony-charged Blagojevich should voice those concerns. That would be the sole legitimate reason to delay seating Burris. No one is making such a claim, though. Blagojevich’s misconduct with others does not prove any abuse involving Burris, nor does it divest the governor of his powers.
Imagine the senatorial fury if one of their own were denied their Constitutional power “just because” they were accused of illegality. Even after his conviction for corruption, now-former-Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, continued to vote in the Senate until his term of office expired this week. Nobody suggests the Senate must void every vote in which Stevens participated.
The first voice of Senate reason came from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who noted that failing to seat Burris would call into question the validity of all other gubernatorial appointments. The domino effect would be horrendous.
The ability of the House and Senate to decide who to seat is limited by Article I of the Constitution. The Supreme Court ruled in 1969 after the House kept Rep. Adam Clayton Powell, D-N.Y., in limbo for two years, that “in judging the qualifications of its members, Congress is limited to the standing qualifications prescribed in the Constitution.”
For senators, the only criteria are that they be 30 or older, U.S. citizens for at least nine years, and inhabitants of their state. Burris easily qualifies.
Because our Constitution has too often been stretched and distorted, we live in an era when Washington believes that anything goes, regardless of what that document says. Taken to its logical conclusion, the Reid-Durbin argument (“We determine who sits in the Senate … there’s clearly legal authority for us to do whatever we want to do.”) would let them exclude whomever they dislike from the Senate club. Durbin also led an effort to proclaim that any appointment by Blagojevich “would lead nowhere.”
Burris’ dignified persistence has been notable. Should those blocking him continue their tactics, however, he would be justified to give a scathing response. The model is what then-nominated Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991, “This is a circus. It’s a national disgrace. … a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks.”
Chairing that Thomas hearing was Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. Unfortunately, Biden did not condemn Thomas’ treatment then nor Burris’ treatment now. Nor did President-Elect Obama speak up in a timely or principled manner. By yielding flexibly to whatever his fellow Democrats and former Senate leaders wanted, Obama also blew a major opportunity.
Without a back down by Sen. Reid, black leaders would soon explode at the rebuff of an African-American. Had Reid been Republican, they would have erupted immediately. The GOP missed an enormous opportunity by not instantly standing up for Burris. His politics and liberal/conservative issues are immaterial in this circumstance.
Yet, the whole mess is just another typical week in Washington. However disgraceful Gov. Blagojevich may be, the U.S. Senate has managed to come off looking even worse.
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