RECESS REDUX

James Joyner | Tuesday, April 29, 2003

Eugene Volokh links some rather radical ideas for getting out of the current judicial appointment crisis. He is noncommital but notes, “it’s worth remembering a wise line from Jonathan Rauch, albeit from a subtly different context: ‘For all its New Testament rhetoric, Washington is an Old Testament city.’” A few posts later, Philippe de Croy argues that there really is no crisis and that escalation tactics are a bad idea.

I agree with de Croy that tit-for-tat is a never ending game and would further argue that using one set of end-arounds around the Constitution to combat another is just a bad idea. I disagree, however, that there is not something approaching a crisis with the current regime. Presidents, even those narrowly elected, have a right to appointees who are ideological compatible with them, presuming they’re morally fit and intellectually qualified.

I’ve written more on this in the past: here and here.

About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia.

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