This Is Absurd

How terrified are the Democrats that Bush might get to select a Supreme Court Justice? So afraid that they want to choose Bush’s nominee:

Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont has urged President Bush to avoid a traumatic national battle over the Supreme Court by consulting with him and other leading Democrats before choosing a nominee, should a vacancy occur.

In two recent letters to the White House, Mr. Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said that if Mr. Bush took advantage of a vacancy on the court to select a staunchly conservative judge, it would produce a political war that would upset the nation and diminish respect for the courts.

“Though the landscape ahead is sown with the potential for controversy and contention over vacancies that may arise on the court, contention is avoidable, and consensus should be our goal,” Mr. Leahy wrote on Wednesday. “I would hope your objective will not be to send the Senate nominees so polarizing that their confirmations are eked out in narrow margins.”

Do not be fooled- this is not a fig leaf or an appeal for bipartisanship. This is tantamount to blackmail- ‘Let us help you choose the candidate or there will be a traumatic national battle over the Supreme Court.’ Leahy should be told where to stick it.

And, for the record, Mr. Leahy, the constitution does not require ‘consensus’ to appoint someone to the Supreme Court. It requires a majority, despite how much you and the Democrats now want that to be changed.