The Sclerotic Democratic Leadership
By 
I still don’t trust Jennifer Rubin at all, but she has responded to the rise of Trump in the most appropriate way possible, which is eviscerating the Republican Party and eviscerating the fecklessness of Democrats attempting to “resist” him. So she goes double barrel against Blue Slip Dick continuing to lead the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Democratic leadership that just doesn’t get it all.
At a White House ceremony last week, then-Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) and then-Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) couldn’t stop congratulating themselves on the Senate’s confirmation of 235 federal judges during Joe Biden’s presidency. Durbin declared, “We are proud of the fact that these nominees have bipartisan support. More than 80 percent of them received bipartisan support.” (It was not clear why it should matter that Republicans supported some of them.) Schumer praised Durbin for “nudging him” to get judges confirmed.
Given their self-regard, it is hardly a surprise that Durbin was selected as the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee now that his party has moved into the minority. This was a mistake, and their celebration was excessive.
Democrats were in the majority (albeit just with Vice President Kamala Harris’s vote for the past two years) throughout Biden’s tenure. Of course they should have confirmed the president’s nominees. They should also have confirmed a batch of others whom they instead abandoned: 3rd Circuit nominee Adeel Mangi, 4th Circuit nominee Ryan Park, 6th Circuit nominee Karla Campbell and 1st Circuit nominee Julia Lipez.
As I’ve talked about before, there’s a real answer for Judiciary and his name is Sheldon Whitehouse.
When it came to investigating Justice Clarence Thomas’s financial impropriety, it was Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) and Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Georgia) who “sent a letter calling on the Judicial Conference to refer Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Attorney General for potential violations of the Ethics in Government Act 1978.” When the Judicial Conference refused to do so, Whitehouse was the one to write a blistering response:
“The Judicial Conference response contains a number of inconsistencies and strange claims, and ultimately doesn’t address the only real question the Judicial Conference should’ve been focused on for the nearly two years it spent on this matter: Is there reasonable cause to believe that Justice Thomas willfully broke the disclosure law? By all appearances, the judicial branch is evading a clear statutory duty to hold a Supreme Court justice accountable for ethics violations.”
Whitehouse has consistently demonstrated leadership and the determination to expose the financial and ethical corruption of a rogue and hyper-partisan Supreme Court. In floor speeches, Whitehouse has been the key player in exposing the right-wing scheme to capture the federal courts. He also has been at the forefront of efforts to pass a mandatory Supreme Court ethics code and impose term limits.
In short, if Democrats wanted to wage an unabashed defense of the rule of law, hold Republicans’ feet to the fire, lead aggressive confirmation hearings on absurd executive branch nominees (e.g., Kash Patelfor FBI director) and use every tool to slow or stop unfit executive and judicial branch nominees, thenWhitehouse, not Durbin, should have been put in the ranking Democrat’s chair.
And remember, Schumer and Durbin changed the rules for committee chairs to stop Whitehouse from chairing Judiciary!
I firmly believe that until we get rid of Schumer, Durbin, and the rest of that generation of Democrats who came to Washington in the Clinton years or before, we are pretty well hopeless as a party in dealing with Republicans in the halls of power. Just worthless.