There’s a strong case that Congress should give legal status to millions of immigrants who are here illegally, at least under certain conditions. There’s a case, reasonable though not as strong, that we ought to have legislative rules that allow a bare majority of Congress to make that change in our laws.

There is, by contrast, no real case that the rules in place today allow it.

If Democrats try to enact an amnesty that way, they will probably, and rightly, get shot down — but not before doing a bit more damage to public confidence in our political system.