Why the Christian right is so excited about 2014

[DonViejo]

A change to obscure procedural rules in the Senate could present a rare opportunity to enshrine their dogma as law

CJ WERLEMAN, ALTERNET

This article originally appeared on AlterNet.

AlterNet Elections have consequences. The Senate Democrats’ detonation of the “nuclear option” has dramatically raised the stakes for secular progressives in 2014, because if there are two issues that juice the Christian Right the most, it’s women’s reproductive rights and judicial activism. On the latter, the Religious Right senses a once-in-a-decade opportunity to impose its radical worldview on America.

Last week, the Senate voted 52-48 to eliminate the ability of the minority party in the Senate to filibuster executive branch nominees and any judgeship below the Supreme Court by changing the requirements for passage to a simple majority vote. It was a historic move made because there was no other alternative, given the GOP’s unprecedented abuse of the filibuster. In the history of the United States, 168 presidential nominees have been filibustered. Half occurred under all presidents from Washington through to Bush. Remarkably, the other half has taken place under just one president: Obama.

Why such aggressive judicial obstructionism by the GOP?

Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. writes, “This era’s conservatives will use any means at their disposal to win control of the courts. Their goal is to do all they can to limit Congress’s ability to enact social reforms.”

The Christian Right, which is the GOP’s most reliable and agitated voting bloc, is obsessed with the courts, and the Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit is the nation’s second most important judicial body, which is why Republicans “gave the game away when all but a few of them opposed Obama’s three most recent appointments.”

Now that Democrats were forced into limiting the filibuster, the Christian Right has its incentive to mobilize for 2014. A simple majority control of the Senate gives it an opportunity to pack the courts with judges straight out of the Justice Scalia mold, who once said that separation of church and state would come under scrutiny under a Supreme Court with a Scalia majority. If the Christian Right sweeps Republicans to control the Senate in next year’s midterms, the anti-secularists will take a big step forward toward their stated ideological goals.

full article
http://www.salon.com/2013/11/30/christian_right_sees_2014_as_a_crucial_election_partner/

[BlueCaliDem]

1. Using the Constitutional Option (simple majority, just as the Framers intended)

should juice up Progressives and Liberals as well - and there are more of us than there are of them.

When Democrats take a hard stance against something, they should be rewarded, not punished, in the elections. That's something we Progressives and Liberals need to remember come 2014. Cleaning House is crucial if we want jobs, if we want to protect voter's rights and put Section 4 of the VRA back in place, if we want health care for all as we progress to single-payer, if we want to strengthen and maintain women's rights, and so forth and so on.

Democrats MUST GOTV each and every election, and win back the House, keep the Senate, and keep the WH (especially if we want to overturn Citizens United!) if we truly want to move this country forward.

[RKP5637]

3. +++ 1,000,000 +++ n/t

[RKP5637]

2. They are such a despicable POS. I think their goal is to push this

country as far backward as possible, even to civil war of sorts again. They are so creepy and destroy everything in their path, and are functionally delusional. ... akin to a disease.

[dsc]

4. and just who would be appointing these judges?

Unless they somehow install a GOP President in 2015, they aren't going to be installing any judges.

[PSPS]

5. Yes, that's one problem

I think it is obvious to most observers that the GOP won't be winning any elections that encompass an area larger than a congressional district. Teabaggers, the only ones who can win GOP nominations anymore, won't be winning any statewide and, certainly, national races.

[Swede Atlanta]

10. From their perspective if they can take control of the Senate........

They will simply not bring any of Obama's judicial or executive appointments forward for a vote. So any progress on reducing the current conservative slant of the federal judiciary will be stopped.

Although the Democrats specifically exempted from the new rule Supreme Court nominees and legislation, we can rest assured that if the Republicans take control of the Senate in 2014 or 2016 or 2018, etc. they will immediately change the rules to allow them to ram through legislation and either stop or promote Supreme Court nominees, depending on who is in the White House.

[Hawaii Hiker]

6. Actually, they've already done this....W stacked plenty of nominees

who were far right crazy on the courts....Just a few examples - Ailito on the SCOTUS....On the Court of Appeals level - Janice Rogers Brown, William Pryor, Brett Kavanaugh, Priscilla Owen...

[lostincalifornia]

7. The fact is if the repukes did win the Senate, they could change the rules themselves. The

Democrats had no choice. The obstruction that the repukes were exercising was unprecedented

[Hosnon]

8. Good luck getting 67 Senate seats.

Obama will still be the President.

[Dawson Leery]

9. Turtle McConnell has made it clear on several occasions

that he was going to scrap all filibusters if the GOP retakes the majority.

[ancianita]

11. It's true. Cranking up their party's internal conflict will GOTV. I don't know about the registering

[blkmusclmachine]

12. ,

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