Some conservatives are worried that a filibuster-crushing Senate rules change could backfire on their movement, ultimately robbing them of a powerful weapon they have used effectively to battle liberals and centrists in the past.
The arguments, first raised last year, have gained new resonance in the face of flagging poll numbers for congressional Republicans and President Bush, the growing threat of Democrats’ winning majority control of the chamber and another possible showdown over judicial nominations.
If Republicans change Senate rules to bypass filibusters and win confirmation for President Bush’s controversial nominees to the judiciary, what is known as the “nuclear option,” these conservatives fear that, should Democrats win the majority in the fall, Republicans would be handing them a powerful weapon that could be used to move pet executive-branch nominees or legislation.
That would be devastating, one conservative parliamentary expert warns.
