Anger over the U.S. Senate’s use of the filibuster, in particular how the GOP can now use it bring all legislation to a grinding halt, is understandable and well-placed. More insidious, and even less democratic, is the rule that allows a Senator — one single Senator — to place on hold the President’s nomination for appointed office. While the rule serves a good purpose in keeping an unfit person from office, the rule is being abused beyond defense.

Forget the filibuster. Change this rule.

From TPMDC:

Sen. Richard Shelby's (R-AL) office has confirmed to TPMDC the reports that Shelby has placed a hold on President Obama's nominees over a pair of government programs set to be based in Alabama. He did not confirm that Shelby has taken the rare step of blocking all of Obama's nominees, as was reported yesterday.

Until Sen Ron Wyden forced through a rules change recently, these holds were anonymous. Reporters would guess at who the Senator was, trying to tease out the info from sources, including other Senators who frequently did not know themselves. Now, at least, we now that Sen Shelby is using this rule as a one-man veto of the President of the United States.

I cannot imagine James Madison doing anything other than recoiling in horror from such arrogance. I doubt any of the Founders believed a single Senator, acting with neither check nor balance, should wield such power. He is holding these nominations hostage in order to score political points and win a policy battle that he has lost under the law. He is using a Senate rule to act in a way that would be outside the law.

This Washington Post article makes clear that Senators of both parties, including former Sen Barack Obama, have used holds in the past. The difference, however, is huge. Just as the filibuster used to be reserved for “big” issues — LBJ had to overcome a 67-vote margin to pass the Civil Rights Act — holds have been used in the past to deal with single issues, and without bringing the government to a halt. But the Justice Dept has 4 assistant attorney general positions unfilled — because of holds. The problem has been growing since Obama took office:

It seems clear that Senate Republicans are prepared to take the partisan war over the courts into uncharted territory—delaying up-or-down votes on the Senate floor for even the most qualified and uncontroversial of the president's judicial nominees. If this continues, it will worsen an already serious problem of vacancies on the federal courts. And it will discourage from ever entering the confirmation process precisely the type of nominees both parties should want.

Sen Jeff Merkley, thanks for trying to deal with the filibuster, but the ability of a Senator, or a Senate minority, to overturn the will of the voters, and the majority of the Congress, and the President’s constitutional authority, is unconscionable. This rule has to be addressed and fixed — and the Democrats have to agree with it even if it limits their “power” in the future.