Filibuster Reform Getting Serious

     Harry Reid has left some not too subtle hints that this he is going to revisit the nuclear option soon if the GOP maintains its current record breaking level of obstruction and this morning President Obama has made it clear that he is front and center with Reid here and will be joining the fight.

     As Greg Sargent says, this is shaping up to be an epic-or nuclear-battle with the GOP this Summer:

     "I’m not sure folks appreciate just how epic a political battle we could be heading for this summer, when a number of current storylines could culminate in Dems opting for the nuclear option to revisit filibuster reform via a simple majority. In the most important story of the morning by far, the New York Times reports:

President Obama will soon accelerate his efforts to put a lasting imprint on the country’s judiciary by simultaneously nominating three judges to an important federal court, a move that is certain to unleash fierce Republican opposition and could rekindle a broader partisan struggle over Senate rules.

In trying to fill the three vacancies on the 11-member United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit at once, Mr. Obama will be adopting a more aggressive nomination strategy. He will effectively be daring Republicans to find specific ground to filibuster all the nominees.

White House officials declined to say who Mr. Obama’s choices will be ahead of an announcement that could come this week, but leading contenders for the spots appear to include Cornelia T. L. Pillard, a law professor at the Georgetown University Law Center; David C. Frederick, who often represents consumers and investors at the Supreme Court; and Patricia Ann Millett, a veteran appeals lawyer in Washington. All three are experienced lawyers who would be unlikely to generate controversy individually.

     "This is welcome news, because Obama has been far too lax in pushing judicial nominations."

     http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/05/28/the-morning-plum-democrats-prepare-for-nuclear-war/

     Now regarding this last point about Obama being lax in nominations it ought to be borne in mind that a large reason for this was GOP Senators ignoring the old protocols in the nomination process:

    "A major reason Obama has tapped fewer judges, HuffPost's Jen Bendery recently reported, has to do with Senate tradition, which requires home state senators to put forward a slate of acceptable nominees from which the president chooses. But GOP senators have declined to put forward a slate. In some cases, they have then subsequently complained about the slow pace of nominations."

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/28/obama-judicial-nominations_n_3345267.html

    Typical GOP games-Heads I win, tails you lose. The real story then isn't Obama's laxity but GOP obstruction. 

   "But the larger immediate context is important. Harry Reid is threatening to revisit rules reform by simple majority – i.e., the nuclear option — and the case he is making privately is that if Republicans continue at current levels of obstructionism, he is prepared to move in July to end the filibuster on judicial and executive branch nominations. A senior Senate Democratic aide told me that Obama has privately told Reid that he will support him if he decides to opt for the nuke option."

    Reid has actually wanted the President to make an aggressive move like this so as to force the GOP's hand:

     "President Barack Obama plans to nominate three judges to a critical federal court in a move that The New York Times says "will effectively be daring Republicans to find specific ground to filibuster all the nominees."

     "The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is considered nearly as powerful as the Supreme Court and is known as a proving ground for potential high-court nominees. The three vacancies are part of a staffing crisis that has plagued the judiciary, as Obama's nominees have been bottled up in the Senate by GOP obstruction. And while he has had to wait longer than past presidents to have judges approved, he has also nominated them at a slower pace."

    "A Senate Democratic aide said that Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has been pressing the president to make such a move to raise the pressure on Republicans. "That is what Reid has been pressing for and why we cleared Sri last week," the aide said, referring Sri Srinivasan, who was recently approved for the Court, reducing the gap from four to three. He was approved 97-0 once Republicans dropped procedural objections."

     Reid has been pretty clear that if the GOP filibusters 3 key executive branch nominations-for Labor Secretary, head of the EPA and the Consumer Financial Protection Agency-then it's time to "go nuclear."

     http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/05/for-harry-reid-and-filibuster-reform.html

     http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/05/stop-it-harry-reid-you-had-me-at.html

     What the President's nominations have done is up the ante as Reid and Senate aides had hoped. In themselves, his latest nominees are not controverversial-except taht Mitch McConnell has recently described efforts to fill vacancies as "packing the court."

     However, the ante has been raised when combined with Reid's clear threat:

     "Reid has privately signaled that if Republicans filibuster three key executive branch nominations – his picks for Labor Secretary and to head the EPA and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — then he’ll likely go nuclear. But the coming battle over the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is a major judicial and ideological battleground, could also constitute a major addition to this combustible mix. As Ryan Grim notes, Senate aides have wanted Obama to push forward with nominations precisely because this would coincide with Reid’s escalation of nuclear threats, and all indications are that we’re headed for a “major showdown in July.”

      The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is even more important now as Obama plans an aggressive push on curbing carbon emissions:

     "The D.C. Circuit court will also be front and center in a key fight set for this summer. AsJonathan Chait noted recently, the Obama administration is expected to unveil its long-awaited plan to curb carbon emissions on existing power plans, which will lead to a legal battle in just that arena."

      So there is a lot at stake here. As to the filibuster there are different schools of thought on it's benefits; the conventional wisdom is that it gives some power to the minority. I, however, have come to feel more and more that it may be another relic from many of the arcane practices of the initial Senate; until the 20th century Senators weren't even directly elected. 

     Much of these rules-for the Presidency, maybe the electoral college is in the same vein-are really anti democratic in intent going back to things like the Missouri Compromise-3/5 of a man, etc.  Strong minority rights were first and foremost the agenda of the old Slave South. It was how they were able to run the country though in the minority in the 60 years prior to Lincoln's victory.

    Between the filibustered Senate and the gerrymandered House, we continue to see the minority rule this country.  So weakening the filibuster should lead to more rather than less democracy