Democrats May Forgo the Right to Block Future Republican Judicial Nominees

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WASHINGTON -- The Senate could go nuclear as soon as Thursday morning, according to three Democratic Senate sources close to the decision.

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is prepared to change Senate rules that currently require 60 votes to break a filibuster by invoking cloture. Under Reid's new rules, only a simple majority would be required for all executive and judicial nominees other than those to the Supreme Court.

It's still not clear if Reid has the 51 votes to make the change, but it certainly looks close. There are 55 Democrats in total, which means Reid can lose up to four. HuffPost tracked down a number of Democrats on Tuesday to see who remains opposed to making the change, and only one, Levin, definitively said no. A couple of others, Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), avoided the question.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/21/nuclear-option_n_4315938.html

This will be really handy once Jeb takes office.

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Type: Discussion • Score: 12 • Views: 6,995 • Replies: 117
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LOL! Looks like they actually did it.

Won't be too many years now before they're squealing about how "unfair" it is that they are no longer able to block Republican nominees.

No point trying to explain it to them. Just have earplugs at the ready for when they start squealing.

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@oralloy,

Maybe they can make a rule that only Democrats can get by with a simple majority.

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The Republicans broke the Senate. They own the consequences. I don't think Harry Reid had any other choice (other then accept that the Senate can no longer get anything done).

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There is no choice if the Senate ever hopes to overcome obstructionism designed to keep Democrats from accomplishing anything. Right now the Senate is dead in the water.

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@oralloy,

Exactly how many of Bush's nominees did the Dems block?

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@engineer,

http://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/issues/2010/07/img/congressionalnomineesgraphs1.png

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@roger,

roger wrote:

Maybe they can make a rule that only Democrats can get by with a simple majority.

Whatever they do, the Republicans will reciprocate.

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@maxdancona,

maxdancona wrote:

The Republicans broke the Senate.

Nonsense. All they did was give the Democrats a good dose of their own medicine.

And that is what the Republicans will continue to do. This new standard will now be the measure by which all of Jeb's nominees will be approved.

maxdancona wrote:

They own the consequences.

I have my earplugs at the ready. When you are not able to block any of Jeb's nominees, I'll be able to block out every bit of your outraged squealing.

maxdancona wrote:

I don't think Harry Reid had any other choice (other then accept that the Senate can no longer get anything done).

That would have been a wiser choice. It would have resulted in much less outraged squealing from the Democrats in the long run.

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@edgarblythe,

edgarblythe wrote:

There is no choice if the Senate ever hopes to overcome obstructionism designed to keep Democrats from accomplishing anything. Right now the Senate is dead in the water.

It'll be quite awhile before the Democrats will be able to accomplish much again. Obama blew every last bit of his political capital throwing a tantrum against the NRA. Now he's just a placeholder until the voters can put a Republican back in the White House.

The significance of today is that the Republicans will be unimpeded once Jeb takes office.

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@engineer,

engineer wrote:

Exactly how many of Bush's nominees did the Dems block?

No idea, but it was a lot. For the last two years of his presidency, they even kept Congress continually in session so that he couldn't even make a recess appointment.

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@oralloy,

Can't wait until 2014 when Republicans control both Houses and Harry Reams will remember this day.

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@woiyo,

In what bizarro world do you live in Woiyo? In this world, the Republican Party (AKA the Tea Party zombies) has a far lower approval rating than the Democrats. It's quite likely that the Democratic Party will take the house and strengthen their hold on the Senate.

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@tsarstepan,

tsarstepan wrote:

It's quite likely that the Democratic Party will take the house and strengthen their hold on the Senate.

I don't know how likely it is that the Republicans will take the Senate in 2014, but the odds of the Democrats taking the House in 2014 are zero.

And the odds of the Republicans taking the White House in 2016 are very high.

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The nookyular option bees a done deal. Sabout time.

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@oralloy,

They have the same likelihood or better chance at that goal then Jeb does being crowned emperor of the US (which you pretty much have been implying in almost EVERY post in this thread).

1 Reply

@oralloy,

Quote:

And the odds of the Republicans taking the White House in 2016 are very high.

The Republicans have alienated Latinos, Women, Homosexuals, African-Americans and Scientists.

They don't have a chance in Hell of taking the White House in 2016.

The old white gun owners who are pissed off that the Senate is approving judicial nominees with a simple majority weren't going to vote for a Democrat anyway.

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Philosophically, I am ambivalent about this move. I really wish they didn't have to do this, but given the obstruction I don't know if there was any other way to get the Senate moving.

Politically, I think this is a good move. The Democrats have the "Republicans have gone crazy" narrative, and the Republicans keep cooperating with that narrative. The Republicans are going to go really crazy now and the Democrats end up looking good in contrast.

The Republicans are in the position where they have to argue in favor of obstruction... this would be a difficult argument for them to make even if the electorate didn't already think they were politically extreme.

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When did this country survive without a two party system? Why can't Republicans oppose the liberal fucktards Obama nominates?

We are headed to Egalatarism faster than you think. And what makes you useful idiots you are included in the elites plans?

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@tsarstepan,

Quote:

In what bizarro world do you live in Woiyo?

In what world do you live in when the government lies to our faces and uses the IRS and the DOJ to intimidate and deny rights to conservatives or anyone who doesn't tow the line.

Tell me, have they told which hand to wipe your ass with?

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