George Will has an interesting commentary today arguing against the use of the nuclear option, changing Senate rules so that judicial nominations cannot be filibustered. I agree with him in the sense that the nuclear option is probably not the best way to go. I believe that instead of changing Senate rules Republicans in the Senate should force Democrats into an around the clock filibuster. If the Democrats want to filibuster lower circuit judicial nominees, than they should have to stand on the floor and do it. By simply letting them sign pledges that they will filibuster should the nominee's vote come to the floor they are able to obstruct judicial nominees without having to face the full consequences of their actions. If they are forced to actually filibuster than they will have to justify their reasoning for not only obstructing judges, but for shutting down the Senate as well.
Minority Leader Reid has already promised to shut down the Senate should Republicans pass the nuclear option, so why not force them to filibuster and put the burden of culpability completely on them. By changing time old Senate rules Republicans could give Democrats all the justification they need for shutting down the Senate.
In his piece today Mr. Will argues that the filibuster is a legitimate form of checks-and-balances. I have to disagree on that point. As I stated in my previous post, the filibuster is no longer a rarely used vehicle to insure minority rights. Instead, it has grown into a vehicle the obstructionist minority (the Democrats) use to thwart the will of the majority. Vast majorities of the American people resent judges changing the laws and customs of this country, and the Democrats' filibustering of judicial nominees denies jurists who would rule within the confines of the law from reaching the bench.
As Mr. Will states in his piece today, the constitution delegates the right for each house to craft their own rules of proceedings. Though I disagree with doing it in this case, the Republicans in the Senate are well within their constitutional grounds to change the rules. I'm all for checks-and-balances, but what I'm not for is a tyranny of the minority, which is exactly the situation in the Senate today.
UPDATE ( 3/21/05 7:37 P.M.): Mark Levin, author of Men In Black, responds to Mr. Will's piece in rather extensive detail.
Hey, I play soccer for your school but I go to a little private school. This is a great site and I agree with what you say. Do you Know Justin M. ? He is in the senior class at your school. I live on Anderson Island but I didn't think that any one would know about it so I just said that I live in Steilacoom. Again this is a sweet site and keep up the awsome work. + way to stick up for yourself.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words Sam and I do know Justin M., he is one of the hardcore Republicans at SHS. I was at the soccer game on Friday as well; tough loss but it looks like you guys are going to have a good team.
ReplyDeleteGeorge Will wears a bow tie. Crank open the bomb bay doors and let fly the cobalt-thorium G!
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