From The Hill: Labor fight one front in GOP war

The Hill describes the strategies congressional Republicans are using to thwart President Obama's ability to both govern and influence the judiciary through appointments. 2305's might fuind these strategies reminiscent of this semester's Ornstein book. It shows how a concentrated disciplined minority can reign in the majority, both involve preventing nominees of executive agencies and the courts from going forward. Their principle focus is on limiting the National Labor Relations Board and the DC Circuit Court.

Just as GOP filibusters have stalled President Obama’s legislative agenda in the Senate, the party is pursuing a parallel strategy of preventing the administration from governing by blocking nominees for boards and agencies.

. . . The NLRB, along with the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and appellate courts, is a key target for the GOP’s cynical — but successful — strategy of negating the American people’s decision to twice elect a liberal Democrat as president. Republicans are trying to deny him the control he should rightfully have over who should run government agencies.

Destroying the NLRB is only a secondary effort in the overall GOP strategy.

The more audacious move is to choke off the president’s power to put people of his choosing on the federal courts.

There are now 17 appeals court vacancies and Republicans in the Senate have blocked confirmation votes for six nominees.

That strategy is so brassy that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has written a bill to cut the number of seats on the D.C. Circuit from 11 to eight. His clear intent is to stop Obama and the Democrats from ever having a majority on the court.

Blocking the second highest court in the nation from properly functioning is a double win for the GOP. Not only do the Republicans keep the White House nominees off the court but they are also halting rulings on the activities of federal agencies. Without court decisions to back them up, the agencies can be blocked at any turn by threats of litigation.