Via Think Progress:
A reliable Justice Department source advises me that Senate Republicans are planning to “go nuclear” over the nominations of Dawn Johnsen as chief of the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice and Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh as State Department legal counsel if the torture documents are made public. The source says these threats are the principal reason for the Obama administration’s abrupt pullback last week from a commitment to release some of the documents. A Republican Senate source confirms the strategy. It now appears that Republicans are seeking an Obama commitment to safeguard the Bush administration’s darkest secrets in exchange for letting these nominations go forward.
Oh for crying out loud, call their bluff. Frankly, I’m sick of Republican histrionics. Make them filibuster. Truth is they have more to lose over this stunt than Democrats. Let them keep enforcing that Party of No reputation they have going… since it’s working so well for them.