The “Nuclear Option” Threat
(My Opinion)
The battle of the 21st century appears to be looming in The Senate over Senator Bill Frist’s (R-Tenn.) threat to change the rules for cloture in the case of filibusters against judicial nominees of the President. Already Democratic supporters have gone on record as 100% against the measure. The scream “Nazi Tactics” on the Senate floor by Senator Robert Byrd (D-Ky.) has raised the pitch and volume of the debate a hundred fold.
The main question is, given that Byrd himself has succeeded in doing the same thing earlier on, what is at stake here that would cause such rhetoric? One can read scholarly articles claiming that such a rule change is impossible, and other highly regarded scholars claiming the exact opposite. It takes a legislative and judicial mind to sort this out. The Republican legal advisory group claims the rules can be changed by a simple majority vote in the Senate.
Whatever the truth of those claims, we are most likely going to see the nuclear option selected if the next Supreme Court nominee is held up by Democratic Senators – which is an odds-on proposition. It is certain that the President will appoint a conservative to the Court, as best he can determine. (More that once, however, Justices have changed their views after receiving a lifetime appointment.)
The reason behind the Democratic opposition is clear. They want to ensure that the Supreme Court does not become more conservative, so that their agenda for judicial fiats is not jeopardized. In turn, the Republicans want to be able to appoint conservative judges to roll back the liberal agenda that the Court has been following for years.
The Republicans also see the opposition as usurping the prerogatives of the President to appoint justices, with advice and consent from the Congress, but with no “litmus tests” designed to thwart conservative judicial appointments.
If it takes a rule change to get the advice and consent in the Senate by a simple 51-vote majority in favor of a Supreme Court nominee, so be it. We are long overdue for a constructive and conservative change in the Court. For a more in-depth view of this issue, go to:
http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/jlpp/Gold_Gupta_JLPP_article.pdf
# posted by Mannning @ 11:20 PM
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