Discussion: Can Democrats Keep The SCOTUS Fight Alive?

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Discussion for article #246431

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I sure hope so, but I won’t hold my breath.

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“When Republicans announced this week that they would not even hold hearings for President Barack Obama’s eventual nominee to the Supreme Court, Democrats were floored.”

They were? After years of judicial and other obstruction, and after the three leading candidates for the GOP Presidential nomination announced the next President should make the nomination? I don’t think anyone who has paid attention to the past seven years was floored by this, and especially not Washington Democrats.

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if/when the Democrats re-take the Senate expect to see the nuclear option on Supreme Court nominees…

I’d like to see film at 11:00 of pinhead Mitch when that happens… :sunglasses:

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The presidential candidates should hit this hard and continuously, as they are certain to have the media spotlight even if cable news has ADD. Bernie especially has an interest in demonstrating the power of the people. Can he mobilize supporters to actually take to the streets of DC?

Do your job!
Obey the Constitution!

That’s a pretty clear message.

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Can Democrats?

Well. There is this one thing different.

This time Charlie Brown is holding the football.

jw1

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Not only should the Democratic Senators keep this alive the rest of the year, the Democratic nominee for President should keep reminding the voters of what is at stake in this election. Any Democrat who stays home on Election Day will have it on his conscience if a Republican President names Scalia’s successor.

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I certainly was not floored. The Republicans’ reaction is exactly what I’ve come to expect of them. Seriously, I would have been surprised if they had been congenial and said “Hey, let’s handle this nominee like the Constitution proscribes.” This is a good article, but either the writers know something we don’t (like, is there a group of clueless Democrats out there still?) or they are making it up. That’s not a disparagement, but an observation.

I believe it will be easy to keep this message going through November. It is easy. It is simple, in that the Republicans are the current majority – the public already knows that. And, therefore, it is on the Republicans to set up the usual hearings and so on. They are refusing to do so. It isn’t that difficult. President Obama needs to go through the normal motions of vetting his list of candidates. When he has made a decision on the best candidate, send that nominee’s name up to the Senate like usually done. At that point, if the Republican majority who is in charge refuse to go through the normal motions – then start calling press conferences every couple of days. Never waver. Make it the news cycle. Seriously. My grade school teachers would do that – and since the Republicans have made it clear they wish to act like grade schoolers, then that is how you treat them.

edited for spelling

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A Democratic leadership aide called the situation “a win, win, win, win, win for us."

“All we have to do is not screw this up,” the aide said.

I would fire that guy on the spot if he worked for me. Maybe I’m just pissing on the parade, but I think that’s the screwup right there. No one should be talking about this in stark political terms. I don’t mean that people shouldn’t point out that this could hurt republicans, but the message should be “No one is helped by the republicans in the senate refusing to do their jobs,” not “Wheeeeeeeee.”

It sucks. Sure, if Dems win in November, I think that’s better for the country, but it still sucks that republicans continue to sink lower and lower. There’s no “win” here.

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I understand the desire for the media to paint this as a battle Royale, a contest, a struggle. But in doing so it perpetuates a “both sides” argument.

The truth is this: The GOP has turned the constitution on its head. They are threatening the Republic. It isn’t a “battle”. The Democrats are following the Constitution, the Republicans are not.

I think we have passed the point where obstructionism has become treason, shouldn’t THAT be a story?

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You have that right. This is not hard – and they don’t need to make it so. So long as you don’t make it a political game, then it doesn’t become one; therefore, it will not appear like one (created and/or played by the Democrats).

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Mitch McConnell is not the consent of the Senate.

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I pray to sweet baby Jesus that we can.

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The tepid and vague tone of the Democratic senators’ language suggests that either (1) they are intentionally holding their fire, or (2) they still cannot bring themselves themselves to speak the basic truth, which is that their Republican colleagues are yet again sabotaging the basic mechanisms of American democracy, and that we will be faced with an ongoing constitutional crisis so long as these people are in office. Nobody ultimately will change their vote because of coded Washington whining about ‘obstructionism’ or ‘recalcitrance’. Dems have to construct a pithy and realistic narrative that communicates a fundamental crisis of government–or maybe go on strike until the Reps do their job, or insist that they too will not entertain the nomination of any Republican president’s supreme court candidate. This is about the president’s right to appoint a supreme court justice for fuck’s sake. Show some steel for once in their lives–or sit back, lose the public’s interest, and be ‘floored’ once again when the Rep. Congress refuses to entertain Hillary’s nomination and refuses for four years–which is exactly what would happen.

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To keep this issue newsworthy, the Democrats and the White House just need to do things like releasing the names of potential nominees. It’s a shame they’re not doing this.

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The Republicans can’t starve this topic of oxygen. It is its own news-maker.

For example, in the run-up to Summer, we’ll start seeing the releases of the Decisions. And as we get closer to the “Big” ones, the more self-generating the news will be-- will it be 4-4, 5-3, etc.

Then in the run-up to the Election, the Supremes will have already accepted the main docket of cases for the new season, and there will be another big window of articles on the impact on whichever are the big cases for then.

No, even if this goes quiet in April-May and again in July-August (quite possible), it’s not going to go away.

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Republicans – especially Ayotte, Toomey, Portman, Johnson, Burr and Kirk, and maybe Grassley, Coats and Blunt are in tough positions. Most of them have to guard their right flanks until summer (as late as August even); then the pressure will be to pivot to sound more reasonable.

I don’t doubt that Obama’s team will know how to pace the vetting, nomination and discussion to ensure to the maximum extant possible that voters understand how wrong and out-of-step with history the GOP is behaving.

What I do worry about is the DSCC’s ability to focus the message in a meaningful on the proper races, while the Republicans repeat the lie that they’re the ones following “a well-established precedent” and while the media tires of calling them on that lie.

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What’s so hard? Are there news interview shows airing every Sunday? Can Democrats get booked on said shows? Great! Every time you appear on a show – no matter the context, throw in a few choice comments about the GOPs intransigence.

The president or his spokespeople have regular press conferences, right? Regular reminders of how much time has passed, what the qualifications of the eventual nominee are, ask what the reasoning of denying even any consideration of an eminently qualified nominee could be.

Don’t let the MF’ers catch their breath.

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Amazing the power that the majority leader has with those “Senate Rules.”

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God I hope this is near the end of the republican party. Then it will be like the south used to be, the real election took place in the democratic primary.

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