Why the Constitutional Option is Now the Only Option     5/16/2005
By Mario Díaz

The Democrats have turned 200 years of tradition and history on its head.

Commentary

The liberal Democrats in the Senate have distorted the judicial confirmation process to such an extent that only one option is left: Let them go nuclear—the Democrats, that is.

Here’s what Senate Democrat leader Harry Reid from Nevada said recently, “If they, for whatever reason, decide to do this, it's not only wrong, they will rue the day they did it, because we will do whatever we can do to strike back. … I know procedures around here. And I know that there will still be Senate business conducted. But I will, for lack of a better word, screw things up."

There is no question that Senate Democrats are ready to explode but let them suffer the consequences when the American people watch their meltdown.

The Democrats have turned a 200-year tradition where judges were confirmed by a simple majority into a requirement of a super majority or, as we are now learning, a “deal” in order to confirm a judge. Forget about the Constitution, history and tradition or even respect for that matter, that’s “so extreme, so confrontational.”

The process now looks more like trading baseball cards than anything else. “Here Johnny, I’ll give you my Mark McGuire rookie card if you give me Babe Ruth, Roger Maris and Janice Rogers Brown.”

But what the liberal Democrats in the Senate don’t appear to realize is that they have put themselves in such a position that they too need to support the constitutional option. How else would they ever confirm a judge? What do they think will happen if they ever win the presidency and the Senate majority? The Republicans will play the same game, and who can blame them? The only difference is that the Democrats won’t have anyone to blame but themselves. They have established how the game is to be played.

Democrats should start praying now that they would not only win one term, but win a second one. Remember, rule number one says that confirming a nominee could take more than four years. Can anybody say Priscilla Owen? Even if they were to confirm her now, do they really think that everything would be forgotten?

Until now, no judge with a clear majority of votes for Senate confirmation had been denied that vote. Since 2003, the number of judges is now 10 and it will only increase. Here is what Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) had to say about it, “We're not going to be bamboozled into rubber-stamping a slate of Scalias and Thomases who, by any measure, are conservative activist judges.” And Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) said, "If we allow a stealth right-winger on this court, we have only ourselves to blame.”

It’s evident that unless the constitutional option is enforced and order returns to the confirmation process, the American people will continue to suffer the consequences. The sooner Democrats realize this, the sooner we can start mending relationships in the Senate and the American people would be able to move on.

"But wait, Johnny, let's stick with a super majority (60) now and go back to a simple majority (51) when it's my turn." Does swampland come to mind?

Mario Diaz, CWA’s Multimedia Production Engineer, is a student at Catholic University School of Law in Washington, D.C..

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