The Bench in Purgatory
The new Republican obstructionism on Obama's judicial nominees.
The molasses treatment Republicans are giving Obama's consensus judicial nominees should convince President Obama that accommodation is fruitless. Republicans are spoiling for a fight over judges, bucked up by an energized base and polling that indicates that such a fight will help them. Obama cannot avoid a confrontation. And those of us who care deeply about a well-functioning judicial branch should work now to stop this new form of obstructionism.
Correction, Oct. 26, 2009: Gerard Lynch's name was originally misspelled in this article. (Return to the corrected sentence.)
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Doug Kendall is president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, a think tank, law firm, and action center dedicated to the progressive promise of the Constitution's text and history.
Photograph of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell by Mark Wilson/Getty Images.