[Cboldt]

Do they have any other options to force the nominees to the floor?

Some options:

• Parliamentary point of order that supermajority for up-or-down advice and consent is unconstitutional (the so-called "nuclear" option)
• S-138, a bill to change the rules of the Senate, whereby the threshold for cloture, for advice and consent, is lowered in successive votes until a simple majority suffices
• Change the Senate rules at the start of the next Congress
• Take a case to SCOTUS (stronger if the President joins, but politically dangerous)
• Provoke public pressure to prevail on the sensibilities of the recalitrant DEM Senators

[Rokke]

Thanks for the list of options. I would suggest that anything having to do with "changing the rules" would imply that the democrats are currently following the rules, and that the only way to get things done is to pull a New Jersey, and change the rules midstream. Going to the Supreme Court would dredge up memories of the 2000 Supreme Court decision, and I'm not sure that would be very constructive. I believe their marathon debate was their first attempt to provoke public pressure, but it is obviously a challange to force a clear message through a thick media wall. And that leaves the "nuclear" option, which it appears is where they are headed. I would say they are taking the only course they have. Hopefully, after 2004 we will have 60 Republican Senators, and no longer have to worry about this.