Senate rules

Brad DeLong finds that even the American Enterprise Institute is growing uneasy at the direction Republicans are steering the Senate.

Rule XXII is clear about extended debate and cloture requirements, both for changing Senate rules (two-thirds required) and any other action by the Senate, nominations or legislation (60 Senators required).... Senate Rule XXXI... makes clear that there is neither guarantee nor expectation that nominations made by the president get an up-or-down vote.... It reads: “Nominations neither confirmed nor rejected during the session at which they are made shall not be acted upon at any succeeding session without being again made to the Senate by the President; and if the Senate shall adjourn or take a recess for more than thirty days, all nominations pending and not finally acted upon at the time of taking such adjournment or recess shall be returned by the Secretary to the President, and shall not again be considered unless they shall again be made to the Senate by the President.”

By invoking their self-described nuclear option without changing the rules, a Senate majority will effectively erase them.... The precedent set [will be one of] a majority ignoring its own rules to override longstanding practice....

AEI's Norman Ornstein is no fool, and does not share the self-delusion of so many triumphant Republicans who see their recent ascension to control of all three branches as a permanent, God-directed thing that simply needs to be codified, once and for all.