It is now official. The Daschle Senate minority team has announced their judicial power play:

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle on Tuesday vowed to block all of President Bush's judicial nominees unless Bush promises to stop seating federal judges while the chamber is on vacation.

"We will not be able to move on the confirmation of judges until we are given the assurance that they will not recess appoint future judges, especially judges who have been rejected by the Senate," the South Dakota Democrat said.

Not content to merely shirk their responsibility to advise and consent, the minority Senators from the Legislative branch are now dictating how the Executive Branch should staff the Judicial Branch. It almost seems that Tommy forgot all about the concept of Separation of Powers.

The response from the branch of government responsible for selecting members of the Judicial branch seemed more in line with the foundational document:

A White House spokeswoman replied that Bush has no intentions of giving up his constitutionally mandated power to make recess appointments, particularly when used to circumvent "unprecedented Democratic obstructionism."

What should the immediate response be? I believe Bush should threaten another recess appointment for the very first day of the very next Senate recess. Floating a few ultra-conservative names might make the current stalled nominees look a little more palatable. I do believe that Professor Bainbridge is still available.