You might remember my piece from this morning in which I mused on the inner workings of Senator Chuck Grassley’s brain to try to suss out the thinking behind the Republicans’ serial obstruction of the president’s nominees to serve on the DC Circuit of Appeals. Well…I feel vindicated. Harry Reid is apparently going to go nuclear tomorrow, and Chuck Grassley isn’t happy.
Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa took to the Senate floor and denounced Democrats, saying that if they changed the rules, Republicans would consider them applicable to all judicial nominees, including those for the Supreme Court. Mr. Reid has said he supports keeping intact the minority party’s ability to filibuster controversial Supreme Court nominees.
“Apparently the other side wants to change the rules while still preserving the ability to block a Republican president’s ability to replace a liberal Supreme Court Justice with an originalist,” Mr. Grassley said.
Does that sound like a man who secretly wants Harry Reid to go nuclear? To me, it sounds like a man who is desperately trying to dissuade Democrats from supporting the nuclear option by promising to confirm “originalists” (read: Scalia-types) to the Supreme Court, in retaliation, with simple-majority votes. It’s not much of a threat, as it tends to buttress the argument of the advocates of the nuclear option. Part of the argument is that the Republicans have become so radicalized and so vested in their strategy to legislate from the bench, that they will never honor the filibuster anyway if it means that they won’t get to put another Scalia on the Supreme Court. If the reason to show restraint now is to encourage the Republicans to show restraint later, well, Chuck is pretty much torpedoing that reason.
No, sadly, Brian Beutler swung and missed on this one. The GOP simply couldn’t help themselves and they overplayed their hand. Even John McCain seems unable to rectify the situation.
The threat that Democrats could significantly limit how the filibuster can be used against nominees has rattled Republicans. Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who has brokered last-minute deals that have averted a change to filibuster rules in the past, visited Mr. Reid in his office on Thursday but failed to strike a compromise.
Thanks for playing, assholes.
