Why did the Senate kill off the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees?
I’m asking, because I have no idea.
The filibuster was meant to let the minority block a nominee under circumstances like these. Instead, the Republicans decided it was useless and discarded it all while praising what it represented.
It doesn’t add up. Was the filibuster talking to the Russians?
And what other rules might be at stake? Have the Republicans been bitten by the two-out-one-in rule that the president is using?
They want to add a rule about forcing all Senators to eat bacon, which means no Judicial Filibuster and no pants? Great.
Or maybe the Republicans think that the immediate gain of having no cloture hurdle will pay off. All the liberal justices will die or retire, and Trump will nominate Neil Gorsuch’s five sisters to the bench (all played by Gorsuch in drag). Nobody will notice the crooked lipstick, and the court will finally rule that the Constitution says that Republicans are the cool kids.
But they know full well it’s a matter of when and not if the Democrats will be positioned to confirm another justice. Are they betting that the Democrats are better men than they, willing to be more moderate in their nominations, willing to actually hold real hearings?
Because that’s been true, to a point. But the rhetoric from Democrats is getting harsher. The Democratic streak of Republican-style obstinacy may just be coming out, and the Republicans won’t be safe.
It would have been far simpler to find another Neil Gorsuch. There are at least ten thousand qualified people to sit on that bench. Going to 9 9 9 9 will not threaten our strategic reserve of judges.
Or maybe this was the moment for the Republicans to lay down the law. Cut the head off in the bud, like Barney Fife used to say. Now the Democrats know which side of the pants the bread is buttered upon. Wipes dust off of hands.
Now that the Democrats have been denied all power, they will simply pack it up. It’s not like the Republicans need them anyway. They’re not the Republicans’ real mom.
It all just seems like too small of a fight to upend the rules of the body for. Time will tell and teach.