senate obstruction

by Jeremy Leaming

If you’re one of the president’s nominees to the federal bench it helps to have a signficant connection to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

Jane Kelly, an assistant public defender in Iowa, nominated in January to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit was today confirmed to the federal appeals court 96 – 0. She was nominated by President Obama in January. She is the second woman and first public defender to serve on the Eighth Circuit. Both state senators, Grassley and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) worked closely to move along the nomination.

But of course most nominees do not have the sort of backing Kelly received. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) in a press statement lauding the confirmation, again noted that on average the president’s appeals court nominees “wait 132 days for a vote in the Senate, compared to just 18 days” for Obama’s predecessor. 

Regardless of uninformed or brain-addled pundits who argue Obama is at fault for the judicial vacancy crisis or for filibusters of certain pieces of legislation, the reality is that Senate Republicans led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-K.Y.) have stuck to agenda of obstruction. In the case of the federal bench, Senate Republicans have put aside the concerns of Americans who should and need to be able to rely on an efficient court system for political machinations.

Sen. Grassley, who supported Kelly, saying she is “well regarded in my home state” is also leading an effort to limit the president’s ability to fill vacancies on the 11-member U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The D.C. Circuit is one of the nation’s most important federal appeals courts, hearing complex litigation often focusing on high-profile constitutional concerns. Patricia Wald, who served on the D.C. Circuit for 20 years, wrote for The Washington Post that the Circuit “hears complex, time-consuming, labyrinthine disputes over regulations with the greatest impact on ordinary American lives: clean air and water regulations, nuclear plant safety, health-care reform issues, insider trading and more.”   

by Joseph Jerome

Recently in The New York Times, Adam Liptak cautioned that the legislative paralysis brought on by congressional polarization has made the Supreme Court increasingly more powerful, but a dysfunctional legislature can also increase the power of the presidency. Issue after issue, important separation of powers principles are being distorted as the other branches assert their power. In the courts, this produces policy without accountability. When the president acts without Congress, it creates a democracy governed by executive decree.

In our system of checks and balances, power grabs, particularly by the executive, are not surprising. “[A]ll the time, presidents are pushing out on the boundaries of their power and claiming new authority,” Professor William Howell explains, but the president’s ability to secure that authority is dependent upon how the other branches respond. If Congress’ failure to address calls for cybersecurity legislation is any indication, Congress’ response these days is simply to pass the buck over and over again.

Before leaving for its recent recess, congressional dysfunction was on a full display when the Senate failed to overcome a filibuster of the Cybersecurity Act of 2012. The Senate’s treatment of the issue devolved into a circus, with longtime allies Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) arguing over each other’s national security bona fides. The legislative breakdown followed a familiar pattern:  after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid refused to permit additional amendments to the bill, the threat of a Republican filibuster ended any further discussion, and the Senate closed for business.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) insisted that Republicans did not really wish to filibuster the bill, arguing instead that Republicans only sought to improve the proposed law through their set of amendments.  Yet he failed to mention that one of his own suggestions to “improve” cybersecurity legislation was to completely repeal the Affordable Care Act, leaving Reid to wonder what gutting health care reform had to do with cybersecurity.