Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was
talking tough last week, telling conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that he didn't expect his Senate to confirm any more of President Obama's circuit court judge nominees. Just because. That is
not sitting well with Minority Leader Harry Reid.
"It would be a very stunning and disappointing declaration that the senior senator from Kentucky, especially since he argued for fair consideration of President Bush's appeals court nominees, which would now switch his position," Reid said from the Senate floor.
Referring to McConnell's previous statements that judicial nominees underneath President George W. Bush, then a lame-duck president, should "treated fairly," Reid added, "We're now here with the statements ringing loudly that the majority leader is intent on writing off the Senate's constitutional duty of offering our advice and consent."
That's one constitutional duty McConnell doesn't take seriously, at least not when the president is a Democrat. When he was in the minority, his unceasing filibusters drove the very cautious Reid to up-end Senate procedures by passing filibuster reform for judicial nominations. No, it's far more important to McConnell to strangle every part of government that he can, and that includes the judiciary.