I have read with genuine amusement the mention of the possible use of the filibuster by republicans in the new congress.

It is amusing beyond reason to see it mentioned when it was just a few short years ago, in 2005 that the republican party howled and attempted to rewrite the rules to block the use of a filibuster.

Hatching A New Filibuster Precedent: The Senator From Utah's Revisionist History
By JOHN W. DEAN
Friday, May. 06, 2005

I should know: I was there when the history he is trying to rewrite was made. And not only does this very use of the filibuster have precedent, but that precedent was made by Republicans.

I know this for a certainty based on information I received directly from the Senate Republican caucus at the time. Yet, for purposes of this column, I think it better to let the record speak for itself.

Filibuster Background: The Basics

As many readers will be aware, the "nuclear option" would change the Senate rules. It would be done by a ruling of the presiding officer of the Senate (probably Vice President Cheney), who would declare it unconstitutional to filibuster a judicial nomination. Rulings of the presiding officer can be upheld by a simple majority.

Currently, a "cloture" vote to stop a filibuster requires a supermajority of the Senate. The "nuclear option" simply eliminates filibusters for judicial nominations.

The intent behind such a rule change would be to make the Senate a rubber stamp for the President's judicial nominees, no matter how extreme. And the result would not only be the approval of the President's current nominees to the U.S. Court of Appeals. Actually, the real issue here is what the ground rules will be for the forthcoming fight over the next opening(s) on the U.S. Supreme Court.

To make sure this fight goes their way, Republicans need to dispose of their own filibuster precedent before it starts. This explains their concerted effort to revise history to suit their agenda - even if it means utterly ignoring the facts.

Allow me to set the record straight.

The key event occurred in 1968. That year, Republicans blocked the nomination of Associate Justice Abe Fortas to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. And they did so with a filibuster.

Senator Hatch was not in Washington in 1968; he was not elected to the Senate until 1976. And he has either been grossly misinformed as to what occurred then, or is intentionally lying about it.

Full article at http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20050506.html