“Be careful what you wish for, you may receive it” is credited to English author W.W. Jacobs (1863-1943). It’s the theme of his most famous supernatural horror tale, 1902’s “The Monkey’s Paw” wherein a mummified spellbound monkey’s paw can grant three wishes. Of course, each wish fulfillment came with “hellish consequences, as punishment for tampering with fate.”
That’s exactly the situation the U.S. Senate will soon find itself in for using what’s called the nuclear option. The nuclear option is shorthand for a parliamentary procedure that allows the Senate to “override a rule or precedent by a simple majority of 51 votes, instead of a super-majority of 60 votes.” They can then immediately put the issue to the full Senate, which decides by majority vote. This option effectively kills the filibuster and the minority’s ability to influence presidential appointments, among other things.
When Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid invoked the nuclear option in November of 2013 a former Republican Senate Majority Leader, Trent Lott, sent him a message, “I know how you feel, but trust me, you are going to regret this.” Believing the Democrats would be in the Senate majority or in the White House evermore, Reid did it anyway. He is now retiring and says he doesn’t regret his actions; he’s a fool.
Wikipedia describes the situation in detail, my notes are in brackets:
On November 21, 2013, the Senate voted 52-48, with all Republicans and 3 Democrats voting against, to eliminate the use of the filibuster against all executive branch nominees and judicial nominees other than to the Supreme Court. At the time of the vote there were 59 executive branch nominees and 17 judicial nominees awaiting confirmation.
As of November 2013, President Obama’s nominees had faced 79 votes to end debate (i.e. cloture votes), compared to just 38 during the preceding eight years under President George W. Bush. Most of those cloture votes successfully ended debate, and therefore most of those nominees cleared the hurdle; Obama won Senate confirmation for 30 out of 42 [71 percent] federal appeals court nominations, compared with Bush’s 35 out of 52 [67 percent].
Regarding Obama’s federal district court nominations, the Senate approved 143 out of 173 [83%] as of November 2013, compared to George W. Bush’s first term 170 of 179 [95 percent], Bill Clinton’s first term 170 of 198 [86 percent], and George H.W. Bush’s 150 of 195 [77 percent]. Filibusters were used on 20 Obama nominations to U.S. District Court positions, but Republicans had allowed confirmation of 19 out of the 20 [95 percent] even before the nuclear option was invoked.
Like nuclear war, the genie was out of the bottle just waiting for the right circumstances, an Executive and Senate majority of the same party, to strike again – and here it is. In fact, the Senate’s next step, the doomsday scenario, may now be in play.
The doomsday scenario would be to one-up the use of the nuclear option by using it to confirm one or more nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the world of political one-upsmanship there is nowhere else to go after that except perhaps impeachment and related convictions (are you thinking ahead yet?).
There was never a good reason for the Democrats to use the nuclear option in 2013; it was a pure power play based on a false destiny predicted by flattering press clippings. Now with the shoe on the other foot there is going to be some serious pay back, you can bet on it; the only open questions are how much and what punishment will fate extract?