Check out Tearing up the Rule Book, by NWLC Co-President Marcia Greenberger and Vice President Judith Appelbaum on today's TomPaine.com:
Imagine a baseball game in which the manager of the team at bat turns to the umpire, a close associate, and asks for a rule change in the bottom of the last inning to guarantee a win for his side—say, a reduction in the number of balls it takes to get a walk, from four to two. Ignoring the league’s established procedures for modifying the rules of the game, the umpire announces the new rule, the pitcher and his team lack the power to overturn it, batter after batter draws a walk, and the game is no longer a contest at all.
Any baseball team that behaved like this would be immediately disqualified for ignoring the rules that make the game fair.
Now, imagine if members of the U.S. Senate changed the rules when they didn’t like them. Soon you may not have to imagine because as early as this week, the U.S. Senate may be tearing up its own rule book by launching the “nuclear option” to clear the way for the president’s most controversial judicial nominees.
