Jack Balkin, Yale Law School:

"There are more hints (this from the Washington Post) that the Republicans in the Senate will try the "nuclear option" to end filibusters on judicial nominations.

The Republicans hold all the levers of power and now would like to leverage that power to kick away the last major support of minority rights. It's a tricky calculation for Republicans, because, flush with power, they have many different things they want to do all at once, and they will not be able to do them all. Do they want to entrench themselves in the courts for a generation more than they want to pass major legislative reforms like Social Security privatization or tax reform? If they use the nuclear option, the Democrats may prevent any significant legislation from passing in retaliation. On the other hand, if they want Democratic cooperation, the Republicans may have to accede to a more moderate policy on judicial nominations. And it would not have to be that much more moderate, in fact, because in the past four years the Democrats filibustered only about 10 of the President's 229 nominations.

The smart move would be not to stir up this particular hornet's nest. Judicial nominations are most important for cultural and religious conservatives, who have nowhere else to go. But one should never underestimate the temptation, among those who have recently become very powerful, to wield their power recklessly in order to demonstrate that they have it." [December 13, 2004; Balkinization has the post]