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and Meetings < Return To Hearing Testimony of  Mr. Bruce Fein
May 6, 2003  Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: I am
grateful for the opportunity to share my views on the
constitutional right of a Senate majority to confirm judicial
nominees of the President irrespective of a supermajority Senate
filibuster or cloture rule. The Constitution establishes a
simple majority as the Senate consensus sufficient to confirm
nominees of the President who are officers of the United States
under the Appointments Clause, including judges and members of
the Cabinet. When the Constitution contemplates supermajorities,
for example, to ratify treaties, to convict for impeachable
offenses, or to override presidential vetoes, it employs express
language to that effect. The absence of any supermajority
language or hint of the same in the Appointments Clause confirms
the obvious- that a simple majority was intended to confirm
nominees. Indeed, no non-trivia