(Cross-posted at the Makeshift Academic)
Yesterday, we all crawled out from our radiation shelters to behold the charred remains of the Senate landscape. You see, Harry "Major Kong" Reid engaged the nuclear option last Thursday, blowing up existing chamber procedure and changing to require only a majority vote to end debate on executive and non-Supreme Court judicial nominations.
So now what? Over the short term, the confirmations should flow fairly quickly. There are currently four appeals (including the three D.C. circuit nominees) and 13 district court nominations that have passed through the Senate Judiciary Committee and are awaiting floor action. They should fly through in a jiffy in December.
Behind that immediate flurry, the picture gets a bit murkier. There are currently 93 vacancies on the federal bench -- 18 on the appellate level and 75 at the district level. Getting the 17 easy confirmations out of the way leaves 76 slots (14 appellate and 62 district). Of these Obama has nominees for six appellate and 30 district vacancies.
There are two ways Republicans can slow down or block nominations to these vacant slots. Follow me below the oxide cloud for more.