As Dave Weigel and Lara Rozen have already reported, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) yesterday filed for cloture, moving Harold Koh’s nomination to serve as State Department Legal Advisor to the floor of the Senate. Although the timing depends on other Senate business, the vote is likely to take place as soon as tomorrow.

For those unfamiliar with the Senate’s mysterious ways, the Majority Leader routinely asks unanimous consent to close debate on a given issue and move to a vote.  If any Senator refuses, then “debate” remains open and cannot be closed without a sixty-vote super-majority.   This is what used to be known as a filibuster, back in the day when Senators opposing cloture actually had to stay on the Senate floor and speak.

These days, anyone can put a hold on any bill or confirmation and prevent a vote from taking place.  The end result is that the Majority Leader has to round up sixty votes for cloture before a regular vote (requiring only a simple majority) on the bill or individual can go forward.

In Koh’s case, two Senators — John Cornyn and David Vitter — refused to agree to a vote.  Reid’s decision to move forward means that he thinks he has the votes.  What we do know is that Richard Lugar (R-IN) has endorsed Koh, which brings the number to 60, assuming that all Democrats support Koh — and that they all show up, which is perhaps the biggest problem.

That means that it’s important that other moderate Republicans — particularly Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, George Voinovich, and Mel Martinez — need to be brought on board.  If you live in their states (Maine, Ohio, Florida), I urge you to call their offices and urge them to vote for cloture (and preferably to confirm him as well).  If you live in Nebraska or Pennsylvania, I’d make sure that Ben Nelson and Arlen Specter are on board.

In addition, if you live in any state with a Republican Senator — even if that Senator has been a vocal opponent of Koh’s nomination — I would urge you to call his/her office and make the following point.

Conservative Republicans have, over the past week or so, accused President Obama of failing to take a strong enough stand on the crisis in Iran.  I have argued in the context of other human rights issues (such as the anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre) that one of the reasons Obama (and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) have failed to make stronger statements in support of human rights is the dearth of human rights experts at State and NSC — individuals with the heft necessary to push for stronger assertions on behalf of the victims of human rights abuses.

If conservative Republicans truly want to see a stronger response by Obama to Iran (and China), they should want to do everything possible to expedite the confirmation of genuine human rights experts who can make strong arguments capable of countering those in (primarly) Foggy Bottom who would ignore such issues.  As a former Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (a position for which he was confirmed by a unanimous Senate vote), Koh has the knowledge to raise such concerns within the bureaucracy.  And as a veteran of the clearance wars, Koh knows how to fight the fight.

To be clear, I think Obama’s approach to Iran has been the right one (and I would guess that Koh would say the same thing).  That said, I remain concerned about the fact that no one appears to be managing U.S. human rights policy at the moment.  If Republicans want stronger human rights language from the Administration, it would help if they stopped blocking those who have the knowledge and ability to ensure that human rights issues remain a paramount component of U.S. foreign policy.

Related posts

• More Detail on the Koh Cloture Vote
• Messaging 101: Don’t Let the Other Side Define Your Message
• Whoopsie
• Transition Watch: Anger in the Ranks
• The Transition