It’s clear more than ever that Senate Republicans are poised to do away with the filibuster if you consider the most recent list of federal appeals court seat nominees submitted by President George Bush.
The reason: he has submitted 12 nominations whose confirmations were blocked last year. So, clearly, with the new arithmetic, the White House is throwing down the gauntlet to the Democrats, who were reported to be dismayed by it all. Surprised? Who provides them intelligence — Bob Shrum?
Bush now has apparently has the votes to have his supporters axe the historical Senate fillbuster rule in the case of judicial nominees. Of course, it would have helped defuse polarization if GWB had come up with other candidates…but it’s clear by now that neither party puts compromise and reducing partisan tensions as a priority these days. And the White House could have come up with other candidates, if it wished.
Outlook: the filibuster could well go under, some will declare it the end of the Republic, but the Republic will survive. And one day the Democrats may have a majority and the GOP may have second thoughts about whether — legal or not — this was a wise strategy to pursue.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.