caught between a rock and a hard place 5.26.2005

In the categories where many of my favorite bloggers have worked themselves into a lather that I personally don't care about is the whole debate on the "Nuclear option" of eliminating filibusters.

Many on the right have characterized the unwillingness of the Republican party to engage in a rule change, either eliminating filibusters for judicial nominations, or changing it back to a "single-track" filibuster, rather than the (relatively recent invention) of a "dual-track", where a filibuster no longer halts all other Senate business as Republicans being weaked-spined.

Some have even called for taking retaliatory measures against Republicans, such as the conservative blog Captain's Quarters, with his "not one dime" pledge.


However, I have a theory as to why the Republicans, even though they currently have a majority, are loath to eliminate the filibuster rule. And this is why I think the Republicans are caught between a rock (their own constituency, who'd like to streamline presidential judicial nominations) and a hard place (their own sense of long-term self-preservation).

The answer is simple: Republicans now enjoy a majority. But it hasn't always been so--and many of the Senators now serving were in office during a time when the Republicans were a minority. And they won't always enjoy a majority: the day will come, be it in two years or twenty, when the Republicans are once again a minority. It's inevitable, like the comings and goings of the tide.

And when that day comes, they want to have the power to prevent liberal judges from being rammed through the Senate in much the same way many Republican voters want to be able to ram through conservative judges today.

posted by William Woody at 3:27 PM

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