HistoricalMullet: A good idea of Bush’s

A proposal to curtail the power of the ‘blue slip’ indefinite delays, without even a filibuster, of judicial nominees.

I actually like this plan. It’s to break the horrific (and long standing) practice of Senators using federal appointments to courts as they’re own punching bags by neither approving nor denying appointments, but just stalling it forever and a day. Democrats do it today, Republicans certainly did it for many years under Clinton (perfecting the maneuvers Dem’s use now).

So though I doubt Bush himself came up with this plan, I’ll give him credit for it.

• Federal judges should aim to notify the president of their plans to retire at least a year in advance.
• The president should submit a nomination to the Senate within 180 days of receiving notice of a federal court vacancy or intended retirement.
• The Senate Judiciary Committee should be asked to hold a hearing within 90 days of receiving a nomination.
• The full Senate should commit to an up-or-down floor vote on each nominee no more than 180 days after the nomination is submitted.

My bet though is the Senate will never approve it. Too many Democrats AND Republicans realize that the filibuster and appointment delay is the last weapon of choice available to the minority party in power.