Gonzales cloture push falls seven votes short

June 12, 2007
Gonzales cloture push falls seven votes short

Senate Republicans yesterday shot down a Democratic resolution of no confidence in embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, presaging a setback for the new majority's expanding investigation of the Justice Department.

Four of the six GOP members who have called for Gonzales's resignation backed cutting off debate on the no-confidence measure, a sight more common in the British Parliament than in the U.S. Congress. Democrats had hoped the vote would land a new blow in their high-stakes battle with the White House over last year's firing of nine U.S. attorneys and the politicization of the Justice Department.