Nearly five years later, Carl Hulse of the New York Times lamented that Democrats won't be able to filibuster the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in "Should Democrats Have Saved Their Filibuster for the New Court Fight?"
For some reason, I am reminded of Joni Mitchell's song, "Big Yellow Taxi."
Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man
Don't it always seem to goOnly Joni Mitchell could pull off equating her love life with saving the planet. Think personal, act globally.
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
But her lesson on short-term thinking applies to filibusters because don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got.
To be fair, Reid carved out an exemption for Supreme Court nominations as he paved the paradise of the rest of nominees. This has led to 22 appellate court confirmations for President Trump.
But after Democrats threatened a filibuster of Neil Gorsuch last year, Mitch McConnell took that off too.
Democratic Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado said this week: "We achieved nothing by filibustering Judge Gorsuch except giving Mitch McConnell the opportunity to strip us of our ability to filibuster a nominee who will cause a dramatic shift in the balance of the court."
Of course.
Democrats do not choose well their battles or their tactics. They thought Republicans would never regain power. McConnell warned them in 2013. In 2014, Republicans won the Senate back.
"But there is no undoing it. And Democrats must now struggle mightily if they are to prevent the second Supreme Court confirmation of the Trump era without the power they lost last year," Hulse wrote.
###
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The Constitution is chock-full of supermajoriy requirements. Confirming judges is not one of them. (Nor is passing legislation, but...).
ReplyDeleteHarry Reid got it right for once. Even the people trapped in his crawl space would agree.
To quote our host on the previous thread:
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha.
Get bent.
Only Joni Mitchell could pull off equating her love life with saving the planet. Think personal, act globally.
ReplyDeleteThis is absolute genius.
I still do not rule out them attempting a filibuster, rules be damned, for all future SCOTUS confirmation votes.
ReplyDeleteTheir unwritten rule? When in doubt, act like the majority party.
Garrett:
DeleteNot a bad rule when you have a Sasse, Collins, Flake, Murcowski,Graham, McCain, Willis, Burr,or Portman to entice aboard when needed.
Flake, Corker, and Songbird will be gone.
DeleteI have a feeling they will be joined by a few more Whigs.
PS I think Grahamnesty sees which way the wind blows and doesn't want to be on the bad blowing side.
DeleteI'm sure he's always up for a blow...job.
DeleteNever thought I would thank the corrupt scum-bag Harry Reid. Thank you you corrupt scum-bag.
ReplyDeleteDonald Trump, 2023: “Awww heck, I’ve appointed eight people to SCOTUS; for the ninth, I’m going to go with Harry T. Stone.”
ReplyDeleteWhen we get the court configured the way we want it, and if the Dems are ever in power again, we'll give them their filibuster back. And use it on them.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why they think this is even possible. Do they think they can stall for 2 years, and that's assuming Dems win in 2020? Did they really not understand that elections have consequences?
ReplyDeleteNot when they lose. They seem to think it's their right to win every election!
Delete