Blue slips are back in the news after the Biden administration thought it had a consensus candidate for a judgeship in Mississippi, only for it to be blocked at the last minute by a Republican senator. Let's listen in:
Republicans abandoned the blue-slip process for appeals court judges after gaining control of the Senate in 2015, allowing them to rapidly confirm scores of Donald J. Trump’s judicial nominees over Democratic objections. But the practice was retained for district court judges, and Mr. Durbin has been reluctant to jettison it, fearing Republicans would retaliate by bringing the confirmation process to a standstill.
“You always have to ask, ‘What would they do in response?’” Mr. Durbin said in an interview. “There are an infinite array of possibilities to slow down the United States Senate. Anyone can stop the train for any reason.”
Let me get this straight. Republicans abandoned blue slips completely for appellate judges when Trump was president and then proceeded to fill the circuit courts with right-wing picks. Nothing happened.
Today, Dick Durbin is reluctant to abandon blue slips for one district court judgeship because Republicans might retaliate: "There are an infinite array of possibilities to slow down the United States Senate," he explains.
Out of that infinite array, did Democrats use any of them to slow down the tsunami of Trump judges? Why not? Does this array even exist? And why do Democrats even care about slowing down the Senate since Republicans control the House and no business is going to be transacted anyway?
Republicans have been playing games with blue slips for decades and Democrats have never retaliated, apparently in hopes that Republicans will someday come to their senses and start behaving decently. What will it take to finally disabuse them of that notion?
Shouldn't have been this difficult to log in for a simple observation. Durban seems to be trying out for the Lieberman award as the Democratic Senator least willing to do anything to upset his ever so noble Republican colleagues.
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Armageddon?
Especially after that abortion pill decision, Democrats are missing a great opportunity to stake a claim for fair judges, not right wing loons.
????????????????????
The Democratic Party lives to miss great opportunities.
Republicans have engaged in nothing but scorched-earth opposition ever since the black guy got elected, and Durbin is worried they might retaliate if Democrats get slightly assertive? You really have to wonder what world these people live in.
A world of privilege.
Durbin is the poster boy for the old guard Dem senators that need to be shown the door. Their instincts were honed in a bygone era and they clearly aren't up to the task of battling the slow motion insurrection that Republicans have been perpetrating for the last couple decades.
I think you’re exactly right. The Democratic leadership came up in a town that’s hardwired for Republicans and they’re very sensitive to criticism from the media or conservative commentators. They’re not confident in their center left beliefs and they are absolutely certain that they will be crushed by the backlash to any action taken against Republicans or even just for attacking them.
Republicans don't care about governance, Democrats do.
Evidently Dick Durbin doesn’t care much about governance either because he’s not proposing to actually do any. Passing the buck to Roberts and the Republicans is useless.
I can only conclude that many/most Democrats are scared of Republicans. They're scared that if they play hardball, Republicans will retaliate with even more aggressive moves. And if push comes to shove and both sides get into a no-holds-barred war, Democrats will lose.
"even more aggressive moves", yeah. Which in recent years have escalated into doxing family members and actual armed attacks.
To say Durbin is underwhelming is an understatement.
And Democrats used precisely none of the "infinite array of possibilities" to slow down the Senate when Trump nominated a hard-right SC justice six weeks before the 2020 election? And she'll be there for the next four decades? Oh well.
Well, that was different. Reasonable centrist Republican Susan Collins spoke words of reassurance.
Unilateral disarmament for the loss.
I understand the urge to not hand Republicans excuses to escalate their hardball, but we're post-truth so it doesn't matter. They will do whatever they want on judges, and if they feel the need to justify it for media ref-working or whatever, will just gesture vaguely in the direction of Robert Bork.
Old Fussbukkits will have to let go but our gerontocratic government is a feature to them.
What will it take to finally disabuse them of that notion?
Dick Durbin resigning/dying/losing election would be my guess. Until all the Dem senators that still remember ye olde days of comity and bipartisanship are gone, they'll continue to defend the right of Republicans to rule over us, either as the majority party or as the minority party.
So there is a tool of political leverage that the Republicans use, and the Democrats select not to use? There must be more to this or the Democrats are being stupid....
As has been said about baseball, "Doesn't anybody know how to play this game?"
I believe Durbin has mostly been an excellent senator. But I agree this sounds pretty awful
I can answer one of Kevin’s questions: “And why do Democrats even care about slowing down the Senate since Republicans control the House and no business is going to be transacted anyway?”
Because the House is not involved in the confirmation process for judges and other presidential appointees. The Senate Democrats want to confirm Biden’s appointees, and a stalemated chamber cannot do that. The Republican House majority has nothing to do with the issue.