Ted Cruz with sidekick Mike Lee.
Just in case you were in need of any good reasons to work on getting out the vote in the next few days, here's
this.
If Republicans win control of the Senate next week, as many expect, they will gain a powerful weapon to reshape President Barack Obama's legacy in his final two years: the authority to block his nominations.
That means his legacy of remaking the federal courts grinds to a halt, and if he wants to get any new appointees in in his last two years, they will have to be acceptable to Republicans or remain vacant. And by Republicans, look who we're talking about:
[Roger Pilon, the director of the Cato Institute's Center for Constitutional Studies] a member of the Federalist Society, a group of conservative legal minds whose mission it is to remake the judiciary in the mold of jurists like Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, said there's an "evolution going on with Republicans right now" in that direction, due to the election of young constitutionalists like Sens. Mike Lee (UT), Rand Paul (KY) and Ted Cruz (TX).
"They're going to have a major influence" when it comes to nominations, Pilon said, "because that's where the energy is."
Do you want Ted Cruz and Rand Paul and Mike Lee to put their stamp of approval on any members of the judiciary? The people with lifelong appointments? If Republicans win the Senate, and if President Obama wants to fill any more judicial vacancies in the next two years, that's who he will have to be working with.
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Obama has just two more years to shape a judiciary that will protect civil rights, voting rights, women's reproductive health, the environment, fairness in the workplace, the list goes on and on. Republicans have already proved they'll go to extreme lengths to block his appointees, and that's when they're in the minority! Imagine the havoc they'll create if they hold the majority for two years.