Now they've gone too far. Two Republican judges (on a three-judge panel) just issued a decision that would gut Obamacare by denying subsidies to anyone currently receiving them through a federally run (as opposed to state-run) exchange. The decision is, in terms of actual jurisprudence, a farce that relies on "a glorified typo," as this analysis makes clear.
The time for us to recognize that the Republicans have completely politicized the courts has long passed. Too many Republican judges see their role as nothing more than standing in the way of duly passed legislation that they and their masters don't like. There is no other possible explanation for a decision as mind-numbing as the one issued today by a 2-1 margin (one that will almost certainly be overturned by the full D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and which has already been countered by a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals, 4th District).
Given that, Harry Reid should do what he should have done long ago: declare the filibuster dead for all judicial nominations. No more debates. No more quorum calls. No more cloture. The nominating process has long since ceased to be meaningful and has become nothing more than a way to tie up the Senate and prevent the majority party from doing the people's business. It's dead.
Harry Reid should call out Republicans for what they have done, and then, in one fell swoop, bring all existing nominations to the floor and confirm them in rapid succession, by simple majority vote. The Republican Party has turned the judicial system into nothing more than another part of the legislature. Let's end the charade and call them out for having done so.