ConfirmThem

By AndrewHyman Posted in Fillibuster — Comments () / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

The New York Times has an editorial today titled, "They're Back, and Still Unworthy." The editorial is as much about mudslinging as anything else. William Myers is supposedly "a mining and ranching industry flunky" (evidently, whenever an attorney represents a client then the attorney is the client's "flunky"). Terrence Boyle supposedly has an "extraordinarily high reversal rate" (actually it's 7.5 percent, which is below the national average of 9.7 percent, according to the Administrative Office of the Courts). And, Thomas Griffith is supposedly an "archconservative" (which I suppose is slightly better-sounding than "archenemy" or "Archie Bunker").

Meanwhile, The San Diego Tribune has a piece by law professors Michael B. Rappaport and John C. McGinnis titled, "Confirming judges: The constitutional option." They conclude as follows:

[T]he Constitution prevents the Democratic minority from blocking the Republican majority's decision to embody its principles in the rules of the Senate.

One might add that the Constitution also prevents the minority from blocking the majority's reliance upon --- and enforcement of --- the principles already embodied in the existing rules (such as Rule 31 which was cited by Senator Hatch yesterday, and which is also being discussed by the Federalist Society).