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SUPREME COURT: JUSTICE SCALIA DEATH AND SCOTUS CHANGES
#38
So...........this Supreme Court nomination is gonna be a big political fight. Democrats can filibuster Gorsuch's nomination by dragging out the interviews, hearings and confirmation process past the deadline in April and demanding a Senate super-majority (60 votes) rather than a simple-majority approval. The Senate is currently 52 Republicans and 48 Democrats; so the Republicans would need to convince 8 Dems to confirm Gorsuch.

If Dems don't give up the 8 votes, Senate Majority Leader McConnell can choose to exercise what's called the 'nuclear option'. My understanding is that means McConnell could change the voting rules to eliminate the filibuster via simple majority approval of the rule change on the senate floor.

But, McConnell is not one who typically likes to violate tradition. So, it's unknown whether he would invoke the very rare nuclear option and eliminate the filibuster (a rule change which could benefit the Dems in the future) in order to get Gorsuch confirmed. If not, Trump would instead be required to nominate his second pick.

But, who knows, maybe Gorsuch was Trump's second pick because he foresees a filibuster? The Trump administration reportedly also likes conservative judge Thomas Hardiman a lot. And, if the Dems tried to filibuster two picks, I think it might cost them politically in the 2018 midterms. Then again, maybe not. Maybe it would get more Dems out to vote in the 2018 mid-term elections in hopes of gaining seats and taking over the Senate majority (thus opening the door for a more mainstream Supreme Court Justice nomination).
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RE: SUPREME COURT JUSTICE SCALIA -- FOUND DEAD - by HairOfTheDog - 02-01-2017, 01:49 PM