OK, everyone switch sides! For nearly two years, [tag]Senate[/tag] [tag]Republicans[/tag] have been itching to execute the “[tag]nuclear option[/tag],” which would, in effect, change the chamber’s filibuster rules by cheating. Senate [tag]Democrats[/tag], worried about losing their last tool to keep far-right ideologues off the federal bench, have said the right to filibuster is sacrosanct.
Now, with the political winds blowing at the Dems’ backs, and Republicans worried that they might lose control of the Senate on Election Day, all of a sudden the nuclear option isn’t nearly as attractive as it was a year ago.
Some conservatives are worried that a filibuster-crushing Senate rules change could [tag]backfire[/tag] on their movement, ultimately robbing them of a powerful weapon they have used effectively to battle liberals and centrists in the past.
The arguments, first raised last year, have gained new resonance in the face of flagging poll numbers for congressional Republicans and President [tag]Bush[/tag], the growing threat of Democrats’ winning majority control of the chamber and another possible showdown over judicial nominations.
If Republicans change Senate rules to bypass filibusters and win confirmation for President Bush’s controversial nominees to the judiciary, what is known as the “nuclear option,” these conservatives fear that, should Democrats win the majority in the fall, Republicans would be handing them a powerful weapon that could be used to move pet executive-branch nominees or legislation.
It’d be hilarious if it weren’t so ridiculous. Mike Hammond, former general counsel to the Senate Steering Committee and a conservative parliamentary expert, warned, “Everyone, I think, who has ever carried the water for the conservative movement in the Senate believes [the nuclear option is] a horrible idea. Most of us feel that it is functionally impossible to separate filibusters of judges from filibusters of nominees from filibusters of legislation.”
The Hill reported that “several respected conservatives” agreed with this analysis and said proponents of the nuclear option have “short memories of the institution,” noting that Republicans may want to use the tool they’re currently trying to eliminate.
Oh, now they tell is.