This Senate rule could stop Biden’s SCOTUS nominee

[Counselor706]

With Justice Stephen Breyer officially announcing his retirement on Thursday (a full 24 hours after the White House announced it for him), Senate Democrats will have a chance to fill a Supreme Court seat, likely before the 2022 midterm elections in November.

But ever since 2017, when Senate Republicans invoked the nuclear option to confirm Supreme Court justices at a simple majority, instead of at the usual 60 votes necessary to break a filibuster, there has been procedurally little minorities can do to prevent a nomination from moving forward (the outright lies, smears, and chaos tactics Senate Democrats employed against Justice Brett Kavanaugh notwithstanding).

This conventional wisdom, however, is true only of Senates that present a clear minority-majority differential. The Senate of 2022 is tied, with 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, which presents Republicans with an interesting procedural option: denying a quorum in the Senate Judiciary Committee, thus preventing the nomination from being reported out of committee and placed on the calendar, and ultimately moved to the Senate floor.

What has made this strategy ineffective in the past — namely, a Senate majority being able to present a numerical majority of their members in committee — is what makes it work in 2022, where the Senate’s committee membership, reflecting the makeup of the Senate, is in a tie.

Source

 

[ll74]

I thought this was already shared before...


Either way, nothing will stop the nomination.

 

[PaxNurgle]

I only wish we could stop Rightguide from creating new threads...

 

[YDB95]

I only wish we could stop Rightguide from creating new threads...

Eh, they're good practice for shooting down the latest right-wing bullshit. (Well, not just the latest, since he periodically tosses out a smorgasbord of propaganda from the past half-century, but still.)

 

[Sean Renaud]

Well I hope someone picks up that phone cus I fucking called it!

 

[pecksniff]

The Pubs on the Judiciary Committee are really gonna look like shit, if they avoid attending hearings for this reason.