Tribal Warfare

Commentary By Ron Beasley

The Senate is broken. It is no longer about governing but entirely about tribal warfare.  Jonathan Chait suggests that Kagan will be Obama's last Supreme Court appointment.  

Bear in mind that, before Obama picked her, Kagan was touted as the
consensus pick most likely to gain Republican support. (Ginsburg had
been head of the ACLU's Women's Rights Project -- imagine a nominee like
that getting through the Senate today, let alone with 96 votes!)

The Republican pretense that judicial nominees, and judicial nominees
alone, should be entitled to a majority vote is a hangover from a
tactical position the party took during the Bush era. Republicans
"didn't filibuster" Kagan because they didn't have 40 votes to stop her.
After the 2010 elections, their numbers will almost certainly increase
to the point where even a moderate like Kagan stands little chance of
clearing the 60 vote threshold.

And this has all taken place in a landscape where Obama has merely
been replacing liberal justices with other, possibly less liberal,
justices. Can you imagine what will happen if one of the five
conservatives retires on Obama's watch? It's entirely possible that
Senate Republicans will simply refuse to confirm any more justices,
period.

I agree but will take it a step farther - unless something is done to fix the Senate the Advice and Consent function of the Senate is dead.  All or most Presidential appointments will become recess appointments. Lifetime judicial appointments will be no more.