A Senator favoring the Bush appointees now being held up, arises and makes a "Point of Order," that under the Constitution, Article II, only a majority vote can be applied to a judicial nomination. The President of the Senate, probably Dick Cheney for this special occasion, rules that the "Point is well-taken, and majority vote is correct."
An anti-Bush Senator then explodes out of his seat and says, "I object to the ruling of the Chair." But under the Senate's Standing Rules, the Chair's ruling remains unless overruled by a majority of the Senators present.
There is one thing that Senators all agree on, left and right, Republican and Democrat, the whole lot of them. It is that Senators are REALLY IMPORTANT PEOPLE, and their PREROGATIVES ARE CARVED IN STONE. So it will not be easy cobbling together the guaranteed 51 rock solid votes to uphold the ruling of the Chair.
The only thing worse than not going nuclear would be going nuclear and losing that critical vote. That would cost all the pending nominees and embolden the Democrats to savage the next Supreme Court nominee -- whom as I said will come in June, 2004, if not before.
Remember, this is more than merely a partisan issue. This one concerns the egos of each and every Senator. That's why I am CERTAIN that if the nuke option is used, it will be restricted to the narrow issue of judicial nominations, and nothing more. Not even the Republican Senators (and their egos) would permit it to go further than that.
Does that make sense?
Congressman Billybob
Latest column, "We Are Running for Congress -- Maybe," discussion thread on FR.