This
Washington Post article is a useful reference point for exploring just
some of the rules and institutions that Bill Frist will have to circumvent or ignore in order to launch the
nuclear option, violating the rules of the Senate. The primary Senate rule they'll be trying to circumvent is colloquially known as the
filibuster, which states that you need 60 senators to consent to end debate and bring matters to a final vote:
Republicans hold 55 of the seats in the chamber, and until now they have needed 60 votes to end debate and force a vote. But Republicans believe they have figured out how to use the chamber's rules so that only a simple majority -- 51 votes -- is required to force an up-or-down vote.
A Senate rule such as the filibuster may only be changed by the consent of a two-thirds majority. At least, that's the rules of the Senate as they stood for 200 years, but Bill Frist and George W. Bush don't like it. So the first rule they'll have to break is the rule that says you need 67 senators to change a Senate rule:
To get there, Republicans will have to evade a requirement that they have a two-thirds vote -- 67 of 100 senators -- to change the chamber's rules. Republicans will argue that they are attempting to set a precedent, not change the Senate rules, to disallow the use of filibusters as a delaying tactic on judicial nominations.
To do that, they'll have to go against the nonpartisan analysis of Senate rules by the Congressional Research Service, the congressionally established branch of the Library of Congress devoted to legislative research and analysis:
Democratic complaints that in this case Republicans are trying to circumvent the rules have been buttressed by some of the independent bureaucracy of Congress.
A report last month by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service asserted that "the point of a 'nuclear' or 'constitutional' option is to achieve changes in Senate procedure by using means that lie outside the Senate's normal rules of procedure."
They'll have to ignore the Senate parliamentarian, who has deemed the "nuclear option" to be against the rules of the Senate:
Reid told reporters last month that the parliamentarian, Alan S. Frumin, had told him that he opposed the Republicans' plan and that "if they do this, they will have to overrule him."
Frumin, who was appointed by Republican leaders in 2001, has not been granting interviews. But a senior Republican Senate aide confirmed that Frist does not plan to consult Frumin at the time the nuclear option is deployed. "He has nothing to do with this," the aide said. "He's a staffer, and we don't have to ask his opinion."
But in the end, the Republicans want what they want:
"If Bill Frist asks for a ruling from the chair from Dick Cheney, of course Cheney will rule in his favor," Graham said. "What are the Democrats going to do, appeal to the Supreme Court? There's no place for them to go. That's the power of the majority."
Just scanning through all that should convince you of the mess that will be made, if the Republican party goes through with the nuclear option. It really is, from the standpoint of the gears and levers that make up the American style of government, just that "nuclear".
The Republican Party has managed to turn even the most basic foundations of American government on their head, simply to force complete compliance with their agenda. It's not about majority vs. minority status. It's about the removal of essential, long-standing authorities of the legislative branch in deference to a very small handful of party ideologues.
I say again, Frist: it's not going to happen. You're not going to win this one. If you shut down the rules of the Senate, the Senate will shut down on you. And for good reason.