Monday, 05/23/05

Via Josh Marshall, an excerpt from the jolly "Dobson fatwa":

"This Senate agreement represents a complete bailout and betrayal by a cabal of Republicans and a great victory for united Democrats. [...] The rules that blocked conservative nominees remain in effect, and nothing of significance has changed. Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Antonin Scalia, and Chief Justice William Rehnquist would never have served on the U. S. Supreme Court if this agreement had been in place during their confirmations. The unconstitutional filibuster survives in the arsenal of Senate liberals."

What a maroon -- disingenuous constitutionality chatter aside, it's almost as if he doesn't have any wonky staffers around to tell him, you know, Scalia was confirmed on a 98-0 vote, and Rehnquist, at 68-28, was still filibuster-proof. In fact, if they'd had Rehnquist's numbers today, the GOP could have changed the filibuster rules by the book, with one vote to spare.

On the other hand, if Janice Rogers Brown does get confirmed as a result of this deal, I'm going to be less happy with it, not least because she'll wind up on my very own ninth circuit. Mark Schmitt has two writeups touching on Brown's highly distinctive worldview, here and here, both recommended by myself. 10:25PM «

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