On Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, nationally syndicated conservative radio host Michael Reagan falsely claimed that Senate Democrats used the filibuster “for the first time ever” against “nominations of the president of the United States of America” in 2003. In fact, Republicans filibustered several of then-President Clinton's ambassadorial and Justice Department appointments in the 1990s and attempted to filibuster some of Clinton's judicial nominees. And after the Republicans gained control of the Senate in 1995, they blocked approximately 60 Clinton judicial nominees, denying them votes on the Senate floor and denying most even a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
From a debate with Democratic strategist Bob Beckel on the March 16 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:
REAGAN: The reality of it is, yes, the filibuster has 200 years of background to it being used with legislation, not with being used for nominations of the president of the United States of America.
Your [Beckel's] party, for the first time ever, used it in 2003, has been using against nominations. Yes, it's fine to use it against legislation. But don't all of a sudden cross over and pretend that legislation and nominations are the very same thing. Because when it comes down to it, every judge that you're talking about having to do with the Clinton administration, every one of those judges is sitting today on a federal bench.