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The Gang of 14 was a phrase coined to describe the bipartisan group of Senators in the 109th United States Congress who successfully negotiated a compromise in the spring of 2005 to avoid the deployment of the so-called "nuclear option" over an organized use of the filibuster by Senate Democrats. The term alludes to the phrase "Gang of Four", used in China to refer to four ex-leaders blamed for the abuses during the rule of Mao Zedong. ==Background== Senate Democrats used the filibuster to prevent the confirmation of conservative appellate court candidates nominated by Republican President George W. Bush. In the Republican-controlled 108th Congress, ten Bush judicial nominees were filibustered by the minority Democrats: Miguel Estrada, Priscilla Owen, Charles W. Pickering, Carolyn Kuhl, David W. McKeague, Henry Saad, Richard Allen Griffin, William H. Pryor, William Gerry Myers III, and Janice Rogers Brown. As a result of these ten filibusters, Senate Republicans began to threaten to change the existing Senate rules by using what Senator Trent Lott termed the "nuclear option" and which Republicans tended to call the "constitutional option". This change in rules would eliminate filibusters of judicial confirmation votes. The theory behind the "nuclear option" was that the Senate had the right to determine its own rules and that those rules could be determined on the basis of a simple majority vote. Democrats objected that the Senate Rules themselves said that a 2/3 majority was required to change Senate rules. Republicans countered that the Senate's power to govern itself was founded in the Constitution itself and that internal Senate rules could not constrain that power.〔http://rpc.senate.gov/public/_files/Apr2505ConstOptSD.pdf〕 Republicans had only a two-vote majority in the 108th Congress, so they were in a weak position to implement this procedural maneuver. Things changed by 2005 due to the 2004 elections. President Bush won re-election, and the Republicans gained three Senate seats for a 55-45 majority in the 109th Congress, so the "nuclear option" became a more viable strategy. Because of the political split in the Senate at the time (55 Republicans, 44 Democrats and one Independent), if six Senators from each party could reach an agreement, these twelve could both forestall the "nuclear option" and enable cloture on nominees. A cloture vote on the nomination of Priscilla Owen was scheduled for Tuesday, May 24, 2005. Its predicted failure was expected to start the Republicans moving to "nuclear option". Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Minority Leader Harry Reid had evidently given up all pretense of finding a compromise (each have been accused of having desired the showdown for their own political ends). Some Senators in both parties wanted to find an alternative way out. In the end, seven Senators from each party agreed to a compromise which stated, in essence, that Democratic filibusters would come to an end in "all but extraordinary circumstances," and the GOP would not use the "nuclear option". These Senators, dubbed the "Gang of 14", signed an agreement, pertaining to the 109th Congress only. The seven Democrats agreed that they would vote for cloture on some of the current filibustered judicial nominees and any future filibustered nominees (except in "extraordinary circumstances," as defined by each individual Senator). In return, the seven Republicans agreed they would not vote to carry out the "nuclear option." As the Republicans held a five-vote Senate majority (55-45) in the 109th Congress, this agreement meant that there would be 62 votes for cloture in the specified cases, ending those filibusters, and only 48 votes for the "nuclear option", which would be defeated. While thwarting the goals of their respective party leaderships, the group members were hailed as moderates who put aside partisanship to do what was best for the Senate.〔(Frist, Reid Lost When Gang of 14 Took Over ) from the Cook Political Report〕 At the same time, some of the Republican members of the Gang of 14 were attacked by conservatives for their participation in this agreement. Three of the filibustered nominees (Estrada, Pickering, and Kuhl) had withdrawn. In the 109th Congress, five of the remaining seven filibustered nominees (Owen, McKeague, Griffin, Pryor, and Brown) were confirmed as a result of the deal brokered by the Gang. The Gang became active again in July 2005, attempting to advise Bush on the choice of a nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. On November 3, 2005, the group met to discuss the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Court, but came to no conclusions, noting that the hearing process had only just begun in his case. On January 30, 2006, the members of the group unanimously supported a cloture vote on the Alito nomination, providing more than enough votes to prevent a filibuster. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gang of 14」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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