When the Dems eked out control of the Senate in November, I knew it would be hard for them to govern with such a slim majority. And yet my heart was light. Heading the list of my reasons to celebrate was this simple phrase:

Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy.

I have not always agreed with Leahy’s votes, but he is a man for his times. We have an executive branch with an almost fetishistic obsession with testing the boundaries of its constitutional powers. We need somebody on that dais with enough piss and vinegar to pick a fight and keep fighting it. This is not a time for exemplary displays of typical Senate comity.

Here in Pennsylvania we are represented by the previous Judiciary Chair, Arlen “All-Bark-No-Bite” Specter. What a contrast.