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What Are Swing Votes in Senate for Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings?
Aired June 08, 2003 - 18:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: The left and right have staked out their positions, but the outcome of any battle for vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court probably rests with a few swing votes in the U.S. Senate. How do we know? It's happened before. Here is our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider in Washington -- Bill.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Andrea, it has happened before, in fact, twice before, with the nominations by Ronald Reagan of Robert Bork in 1987 and of course, the contentious nomination of Clarence Thomas by the first President Bush in 1991.
In both of those years, Democrats were the majority in the United States Senate, and Southern Democratic senators were the swing voters. Southern Democrats survive only with the support of African-American voters.
I covered both of those nominations, and I got a lot of calls, telephone calls from Southern Democratic senators who wanted to know how black voters felt about, say, the nomination of Robert Bork, the confirmation of Robert Bork in 1987. And the polls showed at that time that blacks opposed Bork's confirmation, because they feared that he would upset the status quo on civil rights.
The result? Most Southern Democratic senators voted against the confirmation of Robert Bork, and he was rejected.
Now, the polls in 1991 showed that Clarence Thomas was supported by most black voters, even though his principal accuser in the sexual harassment matter was a black woman, Anita Hill. Yet, they opposed -- they supported him because Clarence Thomas claimed that the confirmation hearings had turned into what he called "a high-tech political lynching." So Southern Democratic senators voted to confirm Clarence Thomas. They were the swing voters, and he is on the Supreme Court today.
KOPPEL: Obviously the Democrats don't control the Senate anymore the way they did back during the Bork and Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, so who would be the swing voters this time around?
SCHNEIDER: Moderate Republicans. They now have the balance of power. Republicans have a very slim majority with only 51 senators, so that with three or four moderate Republicans like Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, the two Republicans, both women from Maine, Olympia Snow and Susan Collins, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, they could vote either way, and they are likely to be the critical swing voters on any Supreme Court nomination.
They're going to be concerned principally with the votes of what are usually called soccer moms, those moderate suburban women who are very sensitive to the issue of abortion rights and would be if there's a threat to overturn Roe v. Wade, and you can bet they're going to be looking at the polls very carefully to see how suburban women whom they depend on to survive in politics, how they are voting, and how they feel about whoever President Bush nominates.
KOPPEL: Bill Schneider, in Washington, thanks so much.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Confirmation Hearings?>
Aired June 8, 2003 - 18:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: The left and right have staked out their positions, but the outcome of any battle for vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court probably rests with a few swing votes in the U.S. Senate. How do we know? It's happened before. Here is our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider in Washington -- Bill.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Andrea, it has happened before, in fact, twice before, with the nominations by Ronald Reagan of Robert Bork in 1987 and of course, the contentious nomination of Clarence Thomas by the first President Bush in 1991.
In both of those years, Democrats were the majority in the United States Senate, and Southern Democratic senators were the swing voters. Southern Democrats survive only with the support of African-American voters.
I covered both of those nominations, and I got a lot of calls, telephone calls from Southern Democratic senators who wanted to know how black voters felt about, say, the nomination of Robert Bork, the confirmation of Robert Bork in 1987. And the polls showed at that time that blacks opposed Bork's confirmation, because they feared that he would upset the status quo on civil rights.
The result? Most Southern Democratic senators voted against the confirmation of Robert Bork, and he was rejected.
Now, the polls in 1991 showed that Clarence Thomas was supported by most black voters, even though his principal accuser in the sexual harassment matter was a black woman, Anita Hill. Yet, they opposed -- they supported him because Clarence Thomas claimed that the confirmation hearings had turned into what he called "a high-tech political lynching." So Southern Democratic senators voted to confirm Clarence Thomas. They were the swing voters, and he is on the Supreme Court today.
KOPPEL: Obviously the Democrats don't control the Senate anymore the way they did back during the Bork and Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, so who would be the swing voters this time around?
SCHNEIDER: Moderate Republicans. They now have the balance of power. Republicans have a very slim majority with only 51 senators, so that with three or four moderate Republicans like Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, the two Republicans, both women from Maine, Olympia Snow and Susan Collins, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, they could vote either way, and they are likely to be the critical swing voters on any Supreme Court nomination.
They're going to be concerned principally with the votes of what are usually called soccer moms, those moderate suburban women who are very sensitive to the issue of abortion rights and would be if there's a threat to overturn Roe v. Wade, and you can bet they're going to be looking at the polls very carefully to see how suburban women whom they depend on to survive in politics, how they are voting, and how they feel about whoever President Bush nominates.
KOPPEL: Bill Schneider, in Washington, thanks so much.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Confirmation Hearings?>
