May 24, 2005
Filibuster: In Your Face! ::
legal — tagged judges, legal and politics
10:27 am
After sleeping a little later than expected, I spent a little time reading up on the proposed deal on the so-called nuclear option. At first blush, I’m pretty satisfied with the deal. Although it clearly doesn’t finish the battle over judicial nominations, I think it gives the Democrats and the more moderate Republicans and opportunity to exercise their constitutional responsibilities and not give the President more political power than he deserves.
Sure, many on the left are quite vocal on the extremism of the judges who will now go before the Senate for a full vote. In response to that, I ask that they keep three things in mind. First, when these judges make decisions, they will do so on panels with at least three other judges; sometimes there will be even more if the case is being heard en banc. That being the case, they will not have the power to impose their radical ideology whenever the opportunity arises. Second, these judges will be restrained by precedents set by the Supreme Court and by their own circuit courts. And finally, in cases where the a radically inconsistent case winds up getting through, there is always an opportunity for appeal to the Supreme Court. Now, granted the Supreme Court has a discretionary review, but from my perspective anyway, they are quite active in bringing in cases that are clearly inconsistent with precedent. See, for example, the Newdow case from last year.
The other reason I’m optimistic is that I look beyond this single fight, to the upcoming elections in 2006. First, the Democrats will be strengthened by this deal (assuming it goes through), because they will have gained some polical power by builing a consenses with other members of Congress who do not necessarily agree with them. Second, in so doing, they have effectively undermined the Senate leadership. I think that’s something they can really beat to death next year—the Senate is not in fact run by people who represent the will of the people, but by a group of leaders who represent the will of a small group of extremists who represent the will of extreme social conservatives. I truly wish the Democrats all the best in that coming fight—I know which side I’ll be on.
And finally, my moderate political compass is telling me that we’re definitely headed in the right direction on this. Any deal that has both the left and the right suggests a strong win for the political middle. To paraphrase the Moose, that’s music to my ears indeed.
