Restoring "Normal Order"
I've been thinking about this for a bit and I've come up with a plan to reestablish some sanity and comity to the process of "staffing" the US Judicial System. The determination of the composition of the Judicial Branch is perhaps the highest prize in politics today, and we will continue to have election victories at ANY cost and an ineffectual Congress that shirks its checks and balances duties far into the future. Really, it all boils down to abortion, doesn't it? So thoughts on this?
1. The Senate Republicans and Democrats, regardless of who has the majority, must agree that the appointment of judges must be reasonable, fair, and equitable. McConnell has made clear that the president is a minor player in the process, so the Senate will be the determining factor as to who takes a seat on ANY bench.
2. The Senate rejects the Kavanaugh nomination outright and consents to the Merrick Garland nomination. Conservatives get their Gorsuch and Democrats get a very moderately liberal justice. But Garland is made senior to Gorsuch based on when he should have been confirmed.
3. The Senate agrees to fill current open seats at any federal level as follows: Seats will be filled five at a time to begin with. The power to nominate will rotate between the parties regardless of who has the majority or the White House. First the GOP nominates 5 jurists. The Senate has 90 days to vet and confirm. The non-nominating party gets one preemptory challenge per seat. Then the Democrats get the next 5 seats, and the same rules apply. For each 90 day cycle, the majority party gets one extra seat nomination and the president gets one extra seat nomination. In theory then, there can be as many as seven confirmations in a cycle, but the minority caucus, when the majority has the White House, will get at least 5 confirmations.
4. Once all vacancies are filled the process will return to "regular order" INCLUDING the ability for the minority to filibuster. The purpose of the filibuster is to prevent the seating of radical judges and force the president and the majority caucus to nominate and confirm moderately conservative or moderately liberal judges.