A follow-up to Matt’s post on Senator Brownback’s hold on a judicial nomination:
For perhaps the last time in 2007, the Los Angeles Times has issued a house editorial on judicial nominations—“Letting go of holds”—the essence of which I agree with: “Senate rules should be amended to abolish all holds, secret and open, so that no senator can usurp the right of the entire body to judge a nominee or a piece of legislation.” (In my judgment, there could well be a limited exception for a genuinely temporary hold, used to obtain or verify relevant information.)
Obscure Senate practices usually serve the narrow interests of senators and disserve the public interest, as I discussed more fully in this essay on Senate practices on judicial nominations.