Gang of 14 Rules

In this report from The Hill, one could come to the conclusion that the so-called Gang of 14 holds the power when it comes to the nomination of Miers to the Supreme Court. Because the Gang of 14 finds that "This nomination didn’t set off any alarm bells with any of us," according to Senator Susan Collins (R-ME).

Why do these 14 Senators get so much say? Some will point out that they can prevent a filibuster or the nuclear option. But every nominee to the Supreme Court will get an up or down vote. If the Democrats try to filibuster a Supreme court nominee, their party will be committing political suicide. The American public may have serious policy issues with Harriett Miers, but nearly everyone will say they should have a vote on the nomination.

But I am left to wonder whether this group of centrist is going to become the real litmus test. When this group of Senators got together to prevent the possibility of the nuclear option we ended up not with a solution to a problem but a bigger problem. Now if a president, any president, seeks to nominate someone from one end of hte political spectrum or the other, the test will not be competence or even judicial philosophy, but whether this group of centrists give the high sign to the nominee. Thus decisionmaking in the Senate will be limited to these 14 Senators giving approval or "non" approval before a vote. In any vote there are the swing voters, but they should be revealed at the time of hte vote, not before the confirmation hearings.