Many of the president's conservative nominations for federal judicial positions will be blocked. Although the White House and the Democratic leadership argued yesterday that the switch opened up new opportunities for bipartisanship, some pundits said that it was more likely to create a gridlock in Washington. It's not going to produce much more than some nice talk about bipartisan policies. He said the missile defence scheme, which has outraged Moscow and Beijing, would be blocked and the Bush-Cheney energy plan, with its emphasis on oil, coal and nuclear production, had much dimmer prospects. Antonin Scalia, the most rightwing judge on the supreme court, is much less likely to become chief justice, and the court's outgoing judges are more likely to be replaced by moderates.
Abortion rights are consequently less threatened.
With control over his political agenda slipping away, President Bush defended himself against the allegation that he had driven Mr Jeffords away with partisan politics. Our agenda for reforming our military, and modernising our military to defend America and our allies represents the best hope for peace.