Many of the congress watchers know that when the GOP regains control of the Senate that they were sure to change the rules on the filibuster to keep the Democrats from doing exactly what the GOP has been doing since President Obama was first elected.  Specifically using, over using really, the rules on closure to slow down or stop most of Obama’s nominations.  The past few years they have been particularity hostile to Obama’s judicial nominations.  Why this is seems to escape most of the talking heads and beltway pundents.  This being the case here is my 2 cents.

Right now judges on the federal bench number 390 nominated by the Democrats and 390 nominated and somewhere around 90 empty seats.  For most of my life I’ve been listening to the right wing complain about the ‘liberal judicial activism’ and watched the federal courts become more and more conservative activist.  With the 90 empty seats on the bench I think the GOP/Conservative Movement fear that all there work over the last 30+ years is going to be set badly back if Obama & the Democrats get to fill the empty seats.

I also think that the GOP is looking at the demographics.  They are loosing badly in the struggle for newer, younger members to the Democrats and Independents.  This is not the first time in the history of the USA that a political party has seen it’s support wither away.  An the first time, I think, is very close to what is happening now. The “The Midnight Judges” was caused by the up and coming Democratic-Republican Party vs the Federalist Party and the Federalist were wrongly thought to have gone and filled a large number of new judgeships because they wanted to keep control of the judiciary.  They reason I think that this is the best comparison because this marked the start of some of the most vitriolic political era of US history and I think that all of the vitriol spewing forth since the election of President Obama  is quite similar.   I hate to think that the GOP fear of its loss of control of either or both of the Executive & Legislative branches is motivating