A Blast from the Past

Ken Starr just showed up on Nightline to talk about the independence of the judiciary during all the attacks from Republicans in Congress. Interestingly, this time around he's not in favor of impeachment. And he's not sure he likes how the Satanic filibuster is being used, but he's not in favor of nuking it.

He also reminds us of the 1968 Republican filibuster of LBJ's nominee for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Abe Fortas. You'll recall that this effort successfully blocked an up-or-down vote on the nomination and kept Johnson from appointing a Chief Justice. After Earl Warren resigned, the office was not filled until Nixon became president and nominated Warren Burger. For a quick run-down on that situation and how it relates to the present disagreement over nominations, check out this piece from The Washington Post. Not surprisingly, when faced with the comparison, current conservatives argue, "Yeah, but that was different."