Senate Republicans now are sounding as though they might filibuster President Obama’s nominee to be the next defense secretary.

If they pull it off, it will mark a new low in what used to be a dignified legislative body.

Republicans senators dislike one of their own, former GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel, because – in my view – he wants to join the administration of a Democratic president. Hagel’s major allies now are Democrats who believe, correctly, that he’s eminently qualified to lead the Pentagon.

But what might Republicans do to stop him? They’ll filibuster, which is to say they’ll block the nomination without ever having to stand on the Senate floor to actually talk his nomination to death. It’s a procedural trick that some Senate leaders want to change. They want senators to actually talk until they pass out, the way senators used to do when they filibustered legislation.

That they would filibuster a Cabinet nominee, though, is virtually without precedent.

I’ve long believed that elections have consequences. They give the president the right to nominate those with whom he will work in the executive branch of government. Obama – who was re-elected in November with a significant Electoral College majority – has chosen a fine former senator, a Vietnam War veteran, a former Army sergeant and a proven businessman to lead the world’s greatest military apparatus.

But that darn filibuster might get in the way. Democrats (and Democratic-leaning independents) hold 55 seats in the Senate, which is enough to confirm a nominee. But they need 60 votes to break a filibuster, if Republicans decide to launch one. They’ve already gotten pledges of support for Hagel from GOP Sens.Mike Johanns of Nebraska (Hagel’s home state) and Thad Cochran of Mississippi. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who gave Hagel the third and fourth degrees during Hagel’s confirmation hearing said he opposes filibustering this nomination.

The president earned the right to nominate qualified individuals to serve in the Cabinet. He did exactly that by tapping Hagel for Defense.

Don’t filibuster this nomination, Senate Republicans – unless of course you want to shed even more political blood at the next election.