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Going Nuclear, Senate Style

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2007

Sarah A. Binder ,
Anthony J. Madonna  and
Steven S. Smith
Sarah A. Binder
Affiliation:
George Washington University and The Brookings Institution, E-mail: [email protected]
Anthony J. Madonna
Affiliation:
Washington University, E-mail: [email protected]
Steven S. Smith
Affiliation:
Weidenbaum Center, Washington University, E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Conflict within and beyond the United States Senate has refocused scholarly and public attention on “advice and consent,” the constitutional provision that governs the Senate's role in confirming presidential appointments. Despite intense and salient partisan and ideological disputes about the rules of the game that govern the Senate confirmation process for judicial appointees, reformers have had little success in limiting the ability of a minority to block contentious nominees. In this paper, we explore the Senate's brush with the so-called “nuclear option” that would eliminate filibusters of judicial nominees, and evaluate competing accounts of why the Senate appears to be so impervious to significant institutional reform. The past and present politics of the nuclear option, we conclude, have broad implications for how we construct theories of institutional change.Sarah A. Binder is Professor of Political Science at George Washington University and a Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution ([email protected]). Anthony Madonna is a Ph.D. candidate at Washington University ([email protected]). Steven S. Smith is the Kate M. Gregg Professor of Social Sciences, Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Weidenbaum Center, Washington University ([email protected]). The authors thank Stanley Bach, Richard Baker, Greg Koger, Forrest Maltzman, Elizabeth Rybicki, Eric Schickler, and Greg Wawro for helpful comments and advice.

Type
Research Article
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , December 2007 , pp. 729 - 740
Copyright
© 2007 American Political Science Association

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