A bipartisan group of Senators in the 109 United States Congress was named the “Gang of 14” in 2005 in order to eliminate filibusters of judicial confirmation votes.
The Gang of 14, included Ohio Attorney General, Mike DeWine, who was part of a negotiated compromise to void the “nuclear option,” which was a threat by the republicans at the time to simply eliminate the filibuster that was an enshrined institution of deliberation in the United States Senate, according to Charles Curran, political science professor at Sinclair.
The Nuclear Option produced the ability of the Senate to create its own rules which could be determined by the majority vote. The Democrats said that two-thirds majority was required to change rules, however, republicans countered that the internal Senate rules could not constrain power.
In the end, seven members from each party formed a group.
As a result, DeWine and the other 13 members signed an agreement to vote for cloture — a vote that terminates debate — on current judicial nominees of the 109 Congress that are under a filibuster.
Curran thinks that it is great timing for DeWine to speak at Sinclair about his experience as part of the Gang of 14 and the tension between both parties.
“There was a lot of tension there because both sides had strong feelings, and there you had guys walking away from both parties and forming a compromise committee to try to get some of these nominees approved that the president had presented,” Curran said.
Curran said although what’s happening in Washington is different than the experiences the Gang of 14 was involved with, he thinks it would be a great opportunity for students to see the ideological injustices. Curran also thinks it’s timely because there are currently only three members from the Gang of 14 left in the Senate.
“I thought it would be timely since we’re fortunate to have one of the Gang of 14 members and someone who tried to get some nominees approved, while others did not make it — at least there was an attempt to bridge the gulf between the two parties,” Curran said.
Although the Gang of 14’s experiences aren’t parallel with the political environment this year, Curran said “there’s a huge ideological bridge that needs to be crossed and the majority feel like they don’t want to cross the bridge at this point in time.”
DeWine will be at Sinclair to talk about his experiences as a member of the Gang of 14 on April 18 in the Library Loggia from 12:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m..
“It’s an honor to get a statewide public official to come to a college campus to talk about politics to students,” Curran said. “I think it’s important for students to see elected officials from both sides of the aisle can reach out — not all of them now, I don’t want to give a picture that the gang of 14 was loved because they weren’t — but some elected officials from both sides could reach across the aisle and attempt to bridge some modest compromise.”
Gabrielle Sharp
Executive Editor