Tyr-Ziu Saxnot
06-04-2013, 10:37 AM
http://news.yahoo.com/meet-three-judges-could-bring-senate-knees-131832073.html
Meet the Three Judges Who Could Bring the Senate to its Knees
The plan goes something like this. At the event, Obama will nominate three judges to fill three vacancies on an appeals court serving Washington, D.C. (The D.C. Circuit, as it's known, has broad power to review federal regulations, making it an extremely powerful bench — and one from which four sitting Supreme Court Justices have come.) The Constitution mandates that the Senate vote on those nominees, which under normal circumstances would likely mean that they'd be approved. After all, 54 Democrats and Democrat-friendly independents is a larger number than 45 Republicans.
<small>RELATED: </small>Five Best Thursday Columns (http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/11/five-best-thursday-columns/58830/)
But these are not normal circumstances. Obama has nominated people to fill those three vacancies before, only to see the nominations blocked by a Republican filibuster (http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/03/another-obamas-blocked-judicial-nominee-gives/63451/). In the current Senate, a nominee needs 60 votes — enough to end any filibuster and be approved. With the Democrats losing a senator yesterday (http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/06/senator-frank-lautenberg-dies/65818/), reaching that number just became harder.
<small>RELATED: </small>Harry Reid Might Just Have the Votes to Upend the Senate Nomination Process (http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/05/harry-reid-vote-count-filibuster/65726/)
After Obama nominates three people at once, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid can bring them before the whole Senate simultaneously. The hope is that, by doing so, the Republicans would be less able to justify filibusters for all three, given that it's meant to be a tool employed in rare circumstances. If the Republicans do filibuster them all, the Senate could decide to revamp established rules — which isn't subject to filibuster — making it so that certain nominees need only a majority of votes to be approved. This is known, melodramatically, as the "nuclear option," given that it upends the protocol to which the Senate ostensibly adheres.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Obama the disease that just keeps on getting worse. -Tyr
Meet the Three Judges Who Could Bring the Senate to its Knees
The plan goes something like this. At the event, Obama will nominate three judges to fill three vacancies on an appeals court serving Washington, D.C. (The D.C. Circuit, as it's known, has broad power to review federal regulations, making it an extremely powerful bench — and one from which four sitting Supreme Court Justices have come.) The Constitution mandates that the Senate vote on those nominees, which under normal circumstances would likely mean that they'd be approved. After all, 54 Democrats and Democrat-friendly independents is a larger number than 45 Republicans.
<small>RELATED: </small>Five Best Thursday Columns (http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/11/five-best-thursday-columns/58830/)
But these are not normal circumstances. Obama has nominated people to fill those three vacancies before, only to see the nominations blocked by a Republican filibuster (http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/03/another-obamas-blocked-judicial-nominee-gives/63451/). In the current Senate, a nominee needs 60 votes — enough to end any filibuster and be approved. With the Democrats losing a senator yesterday (http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/06/senator-frank-lautenberg-dies/65818/), reaching that number just became harder.
<small>RELATED: </small>Harry Reid Might Just Have the Votes to Upend the Senate Nomination Process (http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/05/harry-reid-vote-count-filibuster/65726/)
After Obama nominates three people at once, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid can bring them before the whole Senate simultaneously. The hope is that, by doing so, the Republicans would be less able to justify filibusters for all three, given that it's meant to be a tool employed in rare circumstances. If the Republicans do filibuster them all, the Senate could decide to revamp established rules — which isn't subject to filibuster — making it so that certain nominees need only a majority of votes to be approved. This is known, melodramatically, as the "nuclear option," given that it upends the protocol to which the Senate ostensibly adheres.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Obama the disease that just keeps on getting worse. -Tyr