Filibuster Gowdy .... Oh Wait ...
President Trump has released a short list of a dozen names as possible replacements for FBI Director Comey. Four of the individuals are said to be interviewing with the President this weekend. Two of the names (John Cornyn and Trey Gowdy) currently serve in Congress; one (Suther) is the current mayor of Colorado Springs and; one (Rogers) is a former member of Congress. In short, fully a quarter of the list are politicians.
Published by The Lawfare Institute
in Cooperation With
President Trump has released a short list of a dozen names as possible replacements for FBI Director Comey. Four of the individuals are said to be interviewing with the President this weekend. Two of the names (John Cornyn and Trey Gowdy) currently serve in Congress; one (Suther) is the current mayor of Colorado Springs and; one (Rogers) is a former member of Congress. In short, fully a quarter of the list are politicians.
Nominating a political figure to the FBI would, again, result in a gross deviation from the norm—evidence of an intent to politicize a powerful investigative institution that is as purposefully non-partisan and we can make it.
In the normal course of events, we might hope that such a transgression of norms would be met with a filibuster in the Senate. But that hope reminds us that, in a much smaller way, the Democrats have contributed to the destruction of norms in Washington as well, and that the "nuclear option" triggered just a few years ago now deprives the Senate of any ability to reject a nominee through a filibuster. If Trey Gowdy becomes FBI Director on a 51-49 vote, let us all remember to thank Harry Reid.
