When the compromise was reached in the Senate last week over how to avoid the nuclear option, the lawmakers who participated in the negotiations wanted to send a message to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue: the White House has been part of the problem. The deal specifically said:
“We encourage the Executive branch of government to consult with members of the Senate, both Democratic and Republican, prior to submitting a judicial nomination to the Senate for consideration.”
In the immediate aftermath, many observers believed this shot across the president’s bow could affect the nomination process. The Washington Post’s Dan Balz said the Gang of 14’s compromise puts Bush “under pressure from the moderates to work more cooperatively with the Senate on judicial nominations or face rebellion from at least some of them.”
But if the negotiators were trying to send a message to the White House, the president didn’t get it. Bush doesn’t do nuance, and he doesn’t do consultation.
The White House is preparing to send a raft of new judicial nominations to the Senate in the next few weeks, according to Republican strategists inside and outside the administration — a move that could challenge the durability of last week’s bipartisan filibuster deal and reignite the political warfare it was intended to halt.
The Bush administration has been vetting candidates for 30 more federal district and appeals court vacancies that have been left open for months while the Senate battled over previous nominations stalled by Democrats. Now that Democrats have agreed not to filibuster any new candidates except in “extraordinary circumstances,” Republicans are eager to test the proposition. […]
No names have been publicly floated, but officials familiar with the process said they believe the nominees will be consistent with Bush’s previous choices, some of whom have stirred considerable controversy among Democrats. The Bush team indicated that it plans no changes in its selection process in the wake of the Senate deal. Senate Democrats said they have not been consulted on any new nominations.
In other words, nothing has changed as far as the White House is concerned. There’s no desire to find consensus judicial nominees or contact lawmakers about the selections before the nominations go to the Hill; only a stack the courts with ideologues.
So, Gang of 14, what are you prepared to do about it?
Bush didn’t endorse the compromise and, by all indications, doesn’t like it. His agenda in this area is pretty clear: nominate whomever he pleases, ignore the “advice” part of “advice and consent,” demand confirmation, and whine like mad if Dems don’t play along.
The Gang of 14, particularly Lindsey Graham, suggested Bush could make the process better by working with the Senate instead of against it. Bush has other ideas.
But while the “extraordinary circumstances” phrase gets all the attention, the real test will be how seriously the gang’s Republicans take that “encourage the Executive branch of government to consult with members of the Senate” phrase. Since it’s been ignored, will the seven GOP senators by sympathetic to Dems’ concerns when some of the new nominees draw the Dems’ ire?