But they dropped the filibuster stallingtactic, the first time it had ever been used to delay confirmation of a defence secretary, on Tuesday after a week-long recess.
The decision to commission such a study was a classic bureaucratic stallingtactic in the face of a full-court press by the West Germans and other European allies at the Houston Economic Summit.
Also lobbying the president was Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani, whose lawmakers cast blank ballots Saturday morning in a stallingtactic as he struggled to find a candidate supported by a wide consensus.
The Miami court will hear the GOP complaint this morning, but Republican observers at the Palm Beach recount appeared to think it was more of a stallingtactic than a serious attempt to halt the count.