Showdown

Obama Names Three Key Appeals Judges

Will face filibuster threat.

Congress may be focused on scandalmania, but President Obama is going to try to get them to approve three judges to the D.C. Court of Appeals, the secondmost important court in the country. In a Rose Garden speech this morning, Obama called out Republicans, who have already accused Obama of trying to pack the court, of playing politics by blocking his judicial nominations. “This is not about principled opposition—this is about political obstruction,” Obama said. By nominating three judges at once, Obama is trying to draw attention to Republican obstruction, possibly forcing a showdown over filibuster rules this summer.