Crooks and Liars has a nice video of Biden threatening to filibuster Janice Rogers Brown were she nominated for the Supreme Court. He also, in the face of questioning by Orrin Hatch, pushes back with an excellent argument for why judges confirmed for the appellate courts can face renewed scrutiny, and even a filibuster, when named for the Supreme Court. Appellate courts are bound by stare decisis, they have to abide by precedent. Where Janice Rogers Brown currently finds her craziness bound by the appellate judge's duty to stick to the law, on the Supreme Court she could deploy her inner maniac to fight for new, nuttier laws. That can't be allowed.
Funny to see this coming from Biden, a generally middle-of-the-road player. But it too has a good explanation:
Biden's national ambitions may be reflected by a more partisan voting record in the Senate this year. He normally would be considered a probable vote for the Central American Free Trade Agreement, but administration officials have written him off as a ''no'' vote.
Biden wants to run for president. He's also the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, meaning he's ostensibly in charge of the fight against Bush's nominee. Given the pressure to put on a good show for the base, Biden's occasional instinct to fold should be quashed by the need to raise his national profile and prove his use as a fighter for the party. If he orchestrates a beautiful campaign against Bush's nominee, he'll find his stock raised, his name known, and Democrats receptive. Otherwise, his presidential hopes are over. That's a necessary set of incentives as we enter what may be a quasi-quixotic battle against a Republican majority deeply indebted to James Dobson.
Update: Got stare decisis totally wrong on the first read through. Fixed now.
Update 2: Biden is not the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. He's the most senior, but he chose to helm Foreign Relations and leave Judiciary to Pat Leahy. Confusing, since Biden was chair of the Judiciary Committee during the Bork and Thomas fights, but there ya go.
