This great @WSJopinion editorial on norm-breaking understates what Democrats did and how they rebuffed Republican attempts to de escalate. Democrats held up a bunch of intermediate appellate nominations in *August 1984* because an election was coming up./1 https://www.wsj.com/articles/breaking-judicial-norms-a-history-11600639835?st=ongggqa56jl4bil

When George W Bush took office in 2001, some of his first judicial nominations included resubmissions of Clinton nominations that had never come to a vote, hoping to end the tit for tat that spiked nominations in 92 and 00. This olive branch was ignored. /2

Democrats, as the WSJ notes, filibustered several qualified nominees. Others, like Shalom Stone, never got a vote. In *2007*, nearly two years before the end of his term, Schumer preemptively promised that Bush would never get another SCOTUS confirmation even if a vacancy. /3

McConnell in 2016 simply followed the Schumer rule. In game theory, tit for tat is right strategy in this Prisoner’s Dilemma. GOP shouldn’t unilaterally disarm. GOP’s cooperation efforts have been rejected repeatedly. It’s up to Dems to offer next olive branch—& they’re not./x