My concern about the whole process is what judge would consent to be nominated knowing its strictly for political purposes. Even though judges are labeled conservative or liberal, this would leave no doubt he’s Obama’s pawn by going forward with this.

Over a couple of decades, anti-crime policies would in fact bring a major fall in US crime, something that social-democratic criminologists had assured us was impossible. (Meanwhile, social-democratic Britain overtook us in most categories of serious crime.) Admittedly, not all anti-crime initiatives are of equal value. The War on Some Drugs, for example, has been a cruel and expensive failure.

Allan,

” According to your theory our Congress could sit around the Capitol and do nothing. ”

In my opinion, we would be significantly better off if Congress sat around in the capitol and did nothing. The less they do the better off we are.

There have been several temporary shutdowns of the federal government in recent memory. If it hadn’t been for the fact that the news media kept hyping the shutdowns, less than 10% of the population would have even noticed.

“But then, it would not be doing its job.”

“But then, it would not be doing its job. It should hold hearings and hold a vote in regular order. If they want to reject the nomination”

They have rejected the nomination. Get over it.

In my opinion either we should go back to a part time legislature or they should spend 99% of their time repealing old laws.

“I agree that the constitution does not require any particular act. However, a stated refusal to consider–in any way–the specifics of a person nominated by the President is a refusal to perform a duty assigned to the Senate”

The only duty on the part of the Senate is to consent or not consent. Silence is not consent. There is no duty that they consider anything in the specific.

In the meantime, Republicans should not hide in shame while Democrats spin court vacancies to their advantage. On the contrary, if Republicans don’t want to lose the Senate (and deserve to lose it), they should use the Senate hearing process as a bully pulpit to educate voters on the value of a libertarian conservative court, especially to defend the First Amendment. The hearings could be scheduled in blocks of one or two days every month until ( and maybe after) November.

These hearings would be a good forum for campus horror stories: future leaders being indoctrinated with contempt for free speech and due process. They might even get major left-leaning intellectuals and political players to agree on the record that the Warren Court’s free speech leanings are a tradition that must be continued.

The Senate should also hold hearings on whether to limit USSC terms to twelve years. That would reduce a President’s motivation to appoint a less distinguished middle-aged ideologue over a more distinguished senior judge. USSC judges completing their terms could automatically continue life tenure as Federal Appeals judges, and could be reappointed to another USSC term at any time..

I am of the theory that we elect Congress on the presumption that they will exercise their powers, including the Senate’s advice and consent responsibilities and passing necessary laws.

So, yes, the Senate could refuse to do anything on the nomination and not be acting unconstitutionally. But then, it would not be doing its job. It should hold hearings and hold a vote in regular order. If they want to reject the nomination, so be it.

You two sound like my kids when I ask them to empty the trash. They respond “its not my job.” That is ultimately true, as I have not hired my kids, but they have an implicit duty to contribute to the household. The Senate has a implicit duty to make sure the Republic runs.

No, Allan, not so. There is no duty attached to the Senate’s role in examining and/or affirming a Presidential selection. Nowhere is it written in the Constitution that the Senate must act, only that there is a prerogative to do so.

Refusing to act on a nomination is not consenting.

Why is this so difficult to understand?