Sunday, May 3, 2009

Specter's Defection May Hurt Obama in Picking a New Supreme Court Justice

Arlen Specter's defection to the Democrats from the Republicans (Berman Post: Arlen Specter Switches Parties, Now a Democrat: "Arlen Specter"), may hurt Obama when it comes to choosing a new Supreme Court Justice. On the surface this seems strange. Surely the closer the Democrats get to the 60 vote filibuster proof majority the easier it will be for Obama to get his choice through. To some extent this is true. The first problem with the notion is the assumption that Specter will vote differently because he is a Democrat now. I do not believe that to be likely. That said, voting the same way does not seem like it would hurt Obama either. The truth is that it might.

There is a Senate Judiciary Committee rule that requires at least one member of the minority party to vote to let the choice go through for a full Senate vote. Specter can no longer be that vote. Without at least one Republican voting for Obama's choice (or a rule change), it would not matter it the Democrats had 70 votes waiting for the pick in the full Senate because they will never get the chance to vote. As a member of the 'Gang of 14' Lindsey Graham (R) seems the potential weak link. If the Republicans can keep Graham in line, they should be able to force Obama to pick a liberal leaning moderate; basically someone like Souter.

More at http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2009/04/specter-defection-will-haunt-dems-on.html.

Past related posts:
Berman Post: Supreme Court Justice David Souter Will Retire
Berman Post: Obama Comments On Supreme Court Justice David Souter's Retirement

1 comment:





  1. Several timepieces simply warrant slightly phillips screw motorist, which you may must specific buy. A single form of rolex replica sale could have a single screw during the spine menu with the observe. One more type could have some screws in regards to the boundary with the observe. The most frequent form of observe does not have any screws, yet any fine-textured again menu. hublot replica uk will demand a certain observe application, or even a flathead screwdriver in case you are heroic. Remove the again with the watch-- This indicates effortless adequate, yet it can be a challenging method. analyze for your indent across the side with the menu with the rolex replica sale. Put the particular observe application, or perhaps flathead screwdriver in to the more compact indent inside the observe. Cautiously pry over again menu with the observe. Today which you have the spine regarding thewatch away from, you could start to be able to exchange the lake through your observe. Feel that dry-- Get yourself a papers bath towel and acquire the inner with the replica chanel dried up. Use caution once you acquire h2o out from the replica chanel sale never to hurt some of the complex parts inside of. Merely cautiously pat that using a papers erase to be able to exchange virtually any staying h2o which is inside the observe. Enable that dry-- You might have done just what the talent are capable of doing today.


    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Like what you read; Subscribe/Fan/Follow