July 29, 2005

My co-blogger, Jonathan Wilson, questions the constitutionality of soliciting public questions for the nomination process. This skepticism is mysterious to me. Surely, nothing in the Constitution prohibits individual senators from consulting with advisors in developing questions to put to a nominee. Why is opening that circle of advice to the public any different? At the end of the day, it's still the individual senator who is choosing to ask the question. Criticize it for being an empty and meaningless publicity stunt, to be sure, but there doesn't seem to be a legitimate constitutional objection to this innovation.