Senator Hatch Played Both Sides of the Fence on Recent Obama Nomination
-- Time to keep up the heat as vote on Supreme Court pick nears

Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
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Thursday, July 2, 2009


With the U.S. Senate beginning hearings on Justice Sonia Sotomayor this
month, it is very important that all Utahans keep the heat on Republican
Senator Orrin Hatch, who has shown he is more than capable of voting for
President Obama's nominations.

In February, Sen. Hatch voted for anti-gun Attorney General Eric Holder.
In June, he voted to confirm a radical gun banner, Harold Koh, as the
top lawyer at the State Department.

Sen. Hatch was one of eight Republican Senators who cast a critical vote
last month in favor of Koh.  To make matters worse, three of those
Senators -- one of whom was Hatch -- voted wrong on that critical vote,
then turned right around and voted against Koh when his nomination was
all but a done deal.

This is the game that politicians play.  They love to use cascading
votes so they can be on both sides of the same issue.

To make sense of what Hatch did on the Koh nomination, you should know
that there were TWO Senate votes that were cast on the Koh nomination --
but only one was truly "critical."  The following information
will help
you understand the "game" that Senators use in an attempt to
play both
sides of the fence when they are trying to disguise their votes from the
voters.

(1) Question:  How many votes does it take to maintain a filibuster on a
nomination or a bill?  Answer:  41 votes (if all Senators are present).

There are 100 Senators, and it takes 60 votes to kill a filibuster.  Or,
put another way, it takes 60 anti-Second Amendment votes to "Invoke
Cloture" (or shut off debate) and bring a nomination to the floor.

The opposite side of this coin is: it only takes 41 votes to keep the
debate going and deny cloture!  So, the Second Amendment side only
needed 41 votes to deny Koh a floor vote on his nomination.  (Actually,
because of several absentee Senators, we only needed 37 votes last
week.)

We got 31 votes, with 8 Republicans siding with the opposition.  And
Senator Orrin Hatch voted wrong on this critical vote!

You can see the cloture vote (where a minority of Senators present can
kill the nomination) at:  http://tinyurl.com/mubsfs

(2) Question:  How many votes does it take to defeat a nomination or
bill once "cloture" has been invoked?  Answer:  51 votes (if all
Senators are present).

Do you see the 10 vote difference required between (1) and (2)?  It is
much easier to muster 41 votes to defeat a cloture motion than it is to
muster 51 votes to defeat a nomination on the floor.

You can see the final passage vote (requiring a majority of Senators
present to kill the nomination) at:  http://tinyurl.com/m4m2f5

Keep in mind that the treacherous vote -- where we had the REAL chance
to defeat Koh -- was on the cloture/filibuster vote (See #1 above).

Again, once the Koh nomination made its way to the floor, three Senators
-- one of whom was Hatch -- crossed over to vote against final passage
because the Obama administration no longer needed their votes.

This is why we need to keep the heat on Orrin Hatch.  He is trying to
play both sides of the fence.  But he needs to know that his
constituents are watching and that they know what he is up to.

ACTION:  Please urge Senator Orrin Hatch to cast a pro-gun vote on EVERY
vote related to Judge Sonia Sotomayor (whether it's a vote on sustaining
a filibuster or a vote on final passage).  You can contact Senator Hatch
by going to his webform at:
http://hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Offices.Contact


----- Pre-written letter -----

Dear Senator Hatch:

I was very disappointed to see that, on the Harold Koh nomination, you
voted to end the filibuster (that is, to invoke cloture) on June 24.
That was the critical vote -- where we needed less than 50 votes to
defeat the nomination.

Sure, you voted against Koh's nomination when it was basically a done
deal.  But when we really needed you to support the filibuster... when
your vote was most desperately needed... you voted for gun control.

And that's what failure to support the filibuster was.  It was gun
control, pure and simple.  Harold Koh is a gun grabber, and he is now
Hillary Clinton's chief lawyer at the State Department.

I'm tired of seeing you help President Obama's picks go through.  You
voted for anti-gun Attorney General Eric Holder in February.  And
recently, you helped a gun grabbing lawyer get a top post at the State
Department.

I hope you will change your ways and vote to protect the Second
Amendment by voting AGAINST Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who has said there is
no fundamental right to keep and bear arms.

Please cast a pro-gun vote on EVERY vote related to Judge Sonia
Sotomayor (whether it's a vote on sustaining a filibuster or a vote on
final passage).

Sincerely,


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