GOP Senators hint at nuclear option if Dems block Supreme Court appointment

Loading

John Sexton:

Republicans are vowing that President Trump’s appointment of a Supreme Court Justice to replace the late Justice Scalia will be confirmed no matter what Democrats do. Politico reports the unspoken threat underlying the GOP’s confidence is that, if necessary, they can end the Senate filibuster for confirmation:

Republicans won’t come out and say it, but there’s an implicit threat in their confidence: If Democrats play things the wrong way, they might find themselves on the wrong end of a legacy-defining change to Senate rules that scraps the chamber’s 60-vote threshold to confirm Supreme Court nominees.

“We’re going to confirm the president’s nominee one way or the other. And there’s an easy way and there’s a hard way,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas). “They just need to accept that reality.”

“The Democrats will not succeed in filibustering a Supreme Court nominee,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, Cornyn’s Texas colleague. “We are going to confirm President Trump’s conservative Supreme Court justices.”

Democrats are now in a quandary. Do they come out guns blazing against Trump’s nominee, as some have suggested, or do they hold their fire for future battles. Even apart from the risk of the GOP activating the nuclear option, there’s a danger to Democrats in going all-out against Trump’s nominee. Several of the Democratic Senators who would need to vote no in order to block the nominee will be up for reelection in red states in 2018. Any effort to block Trump’s selection will almost certainly become a campaign issue and could lead to further Democratic losses in the Senate making future confirmation battles that much harder.

Democrats are well aware that Trump has a good chance of filling another seat before his first term is out. Fighting a futile battle now might satisfy some of the progressive base but, when it fails, it will make it harder to ramp up the outrage machine later on. And it’s the next pick that has Democrats really worried because that’s the one with the potential to overturn Roe v. Wade. Whatever happens, it’s clear that Democrats have only themselves to blame that the nuclear option is even on the table:

“I mean, [Democrats] set the standard,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the most senior Republican senator and a former Judiciary chairman. “They really screwed up the rules. Frankly, they did it for pure political purposes. The Republicans are not limited now.”

Hatch is referring to Sen. Harry Reid’s decision to use the “nuclear option” in 2013.

Read more

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
7 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

The demacratic party is the party of coruption crime and treason

The chickens came home to roost. Harry Reid and Obama’s leadership has backfired on them.

Have to give McConnell credit on holding out against Garland’s nomination to replace Scalia, because I was very worried he would cave.

When Schumer et al make their inevitable play to try to block Trump’s SCOTUS nominee (s), I hope the GOPe does the necessary move and gives the demofascists the payback they so richly deserve.

@Pete:

None other than orin hatch came out Thursday in defense of the filibuster. Hatch, I can assure you was speaking for McConnell.

I have another view has been a disaster opposition leader. He did not have the courage to stand up against a lawless president. I am not certain what his motivations were or are, but I think they are more self serving than serving the greater good.

Give those demac-RATS a taste of their own medicine

I want so much to see every slimy trick the Democrats have pulled during this past administration used against them. Then perhaps they can all join together and get back to playing by Constitutional rules.

@Bill… Deplorable Me:

It appears the nuclear option is still in force in the Senate rules for it would appear everything except the nomination of Supreme Court Justices.

In 2013, Sen. Reid and other Democrats pushed forward with a rule change dubbed the “nuclear option” to eliminate filibusters for all presidential nominations except Supreme Court justices. This means that a simple majority of 51 votes instead of 60 votes is necessary to confirm executive office appointments.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/11/19/rule-change-pushed-by-harry-reid-could-allow-trump-to-get-all-of-his-appointments-confirmed/#ixzz4QY7tTYul

It also appear the Senate has yet to reverse this rule change,

But he(McConnell) did not reverse the Democrats and restore the 60-vote threshold on most nominees when the Republicans took control in 2015.

So, apart from the Supreme Court nominations, the simple majority rule for appointments to cabinet and any other nominations requiring Senate confirmation would only need a simple majority, 51 votes, to be approved.