Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is attempting to educate Republicans, but it's not likely to work. As a reflection of just how brazenly political Republican opposition to anything President Obama wants to is, they've brought back the laughable assertion that Obama is attempting to "pack" the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by filling three vacancies. Reid
calls that what it is: "ridiculous." He's moving ahead with the nominations, and
taking the nuclear option out of his back pocket and waving it around in front of Republicans, with some help from Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT).
The pressure to change Senate rules and strip Republicans of their power to filibuster certain judicial nominees "would be almost insurmountable" if Republicans block Millet's confirmation vote to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, Leahy said at an event advocating Millett, currently a Supreme Court appellate attorney.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has already threatened to invoke the so-called nuclear option if Republicans don't let at least one of Obama's D.C. Circuit nominees get a vote. Millett, who will come up for a vote as soon as Thursday, is the first of Obama's three D.C. Circuit nominees to hit the Senate floor. Nina Pillard cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee and is ready for a floor vote, while Robert Wilkins is set for his committee vote on Thursday.
By the way, one Republican senator let the cat out of the bag, and explained just why Republicans are trying to block any more Obama nominees to this critical court:
Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) said that he, too, will vote to filibuster Millett and revealed why Republicans want to keep Obama's nominee from getting on the court.
"We're worried about that court being a significant bastion for administrative law cases on Obamacare," Kirk said.
What a shock.
