With abortion, gay marriage, and other core issues at stake, Democrats and Republicans angle for any possible advantage.
Even before the 109th Congress convenes, the battle over judicial nominations is shaping up as the defining factor of the session.
Tax cuts and Social Security reform may top President Bush’s ambitious to-do list. But with the prospect that Mr. Bush may appoint one or more justices to the Supreme Court, both Republicans and Democrats are girding for an epic confrontation over the judiciary and its broad impact on American life.
Pressed by the most powerful interests in their respective party bases, both sides are already drawing lines in the sand. In speeches and postelection appearances, leaders are floating views on everything from who would be a fit nominee for chief justice to how Senate rules can be changed to limit the minority’s power to block a nomination.
“It’s a storm warning,” says Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Details here from Gail Russell Chaddock of The Christian Science Monitor.
With abortion, gay marriage, and other core issues at stake, Democrats and Republicans angle for any possible advantage.
Even before the 109th Congress convenes, the battle over judicial nominations is shaping up as the defining factor of the session.
Tax cuts and Social Security reform may top President Bush’s ambitious to-do list. But with the prospect that Mr. Bush may appoint one or more justices to the Supreme Court, both Republicans and Democrats are girding for an epic confrontation over the judiciary and its broad impact on American life.
Pressed by the most powerful interests in their respective party bases, both sides are already drawing lines in the sand. In speeches and postelection appearances, leaders are floating views on everything from who would be a fit nominee for chief justice to how Senate rules can be changed to limit the minority’s power to block a nomination.
“It’s a storm warning,” says Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Details here from Gail Russell Chaddock of The Christian Science Monitor.
With abortion, gay marriage, and other core issues at stake, Democrats and Republicans angle for any possible advantage.
Even before the 109th Congress convenes, the battle over judicial nominations is shaping up as the defining factor of the session.
Tax cuts and Social Security reform may top President Bush’s ambitious to-do list. But with the prospect that Mr. Bush may appoint one or more justices to the Supreme Court, both Republicans and Democrats are girding for an epic confrontation over the judiciary and its broad impact on American life.
Pressed by the most powerful interests in their respective party bases, both sides are already drawing lines in the sand. In speeches and postelection appearances, leaders are floating views on everything from who would be a fit nominee for chief justice to how Senate rules can be changed to limit the minority’s power to block a nomination.
“It’s a storm warning,” says Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Details here from Gail Russell Chaddock of The Christian Science Monitor.
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