Apparently no longer able to withstand the barrage of criticism that came his way, Sen. Sam Brownback says he will stop blocking the nomination of Janet Neff for a federal district court judgeship. Brownback, who has been positioning himself as the presidential candidate for conservative Christians, blocked Neff because she attended the same-sex marriage of her neighbor’s daughter in 2002.
This isn’t Brownback’s first shift on the block; earlier this month, he proposed one other solution: He would drop the block in exchange for Neff’s promise to recuse herself from all cases related to same-sex marriage. But, the New York Times reports today, that was an unprecedented, and possibly unconstitutional, request, raising serious issues about the separation of powers provided for in the Constitution.
