The good news: Scalia is still dead.
The GOP has effectively stolen one Supreme Court nomination,and they will get away with it, but it will undermine the legitimacy of the court for decades.
I’m glad that DiFi warned the Repugs of what is in store for them.
If the Senate and House Dems do their jobs, the GOP may come to regret its short-sighted and destructive behavior.
At the very least, Dems need to slow down the Trumpian destruction of the country where they can’t outright stop it.
Shorter Feinstein: i will wait for a day before confirming Trumps pick for SCOTUS.
She won’t forget as she rolls over. Sadly, that’s what Democrats do.
“After the unprecedented and disrespectful treatment of Merrick Garland—a moderate judge who should have been quickly confirmed—the committee will pay very close attention to proposed nominees to ensure the fundamental constitutional rights of Americans are protected,” Feinstein said.
Wow, that’s telling them! You’re going to get back at the Republicans for refusing to even consider Obama’s S.C. nomination by doing your job, and studying the credentials of Trump’s nominee (and then probably voting to confirm him or her)?
No wonder the Democrats (especially when Obama isn’t there to rescue them) are perennial doormats. We’ll be fighting for the heart and soul of our country over the next four years. Show some goddamned spine.
Well, at least the Democrats will have a coordinate message when the nominee is name… at least to the usual extent.
I’ve never been terribly impressed with DiFi for a number of reasons. This is just laughable…as soon as the Dems block an appointment, Mitch will nuke the filiibuster. All the Dems can do is bluster, but they should continue to do so. It’s important, I think to call out the BS every time for as long as they are allowed to by debate rules so that we have a solid “told you so” for the mid-terms.
Do not make assumptions about what Senate Dems will do vis-a-vis Trumpian nominations to the courts.
They are royally pissed, and they recognize the danger ahead.
Fortunately we have a number of prominent republicans on the record saying an 8 member court is ok.
Like they won’t change their minds come Jan 20th?
Probably right.
-
Feinstein is about the most feckless Dem in the Senate and can’t be trusted to stand up to or for anything.
-
The only fair response to the Garland situation would be to filibuster every SCOTUS nominee, but the Rs wouldn’t put up with that, they’d do away with the filibuster for SCOTUs nominees pretty quickly.
-
Considering the caliber of nominess likely to come from Trump, Dems would have to filibuster every one anyway just to meet Feinstein’s empty “very close attention to proposed nominees to ensure the fundamental constitutional rights of Americans are protected” statement. Not that I think Feinstein would ever do that, but see #2.
Why is your assumption that the Democrats will act on their anger more permissible than mine that they won’t?
I think they need to filibuster until it’s removed. Use the tools available
I agree, but as you and I both guessed, it probably won’t be available for long.
We absolutely should NOT forget how the GOP handled the Garland nomination. It is absolutely outrageous that the GOP is getting away with their obstructionism in full defiance of previous norms and traditions. If I didn’t care so much about having a functional government, I’d recommend that Senate Democrats declare Trump a “lame-duck” President the second he is inaugurated (because, after all, Presidential terms WILL expire within a set amount of time) and block a vote to confirm any of his nominees for the next 4 years. Of course, the Senate Republicans would find some way to ram their replacement(s) through anyway, so it wouldn’t really matter in the end but their behavior towards President Obama and Merrick Garland has been simply inexcusable and it pisses me off that they’re going to get “Scalia” back on the bench and maybe even more if we’re unlucky enough to lose Kennedy, Breyer, or Ginsburg (somebody needs to cast a protective spell around all of them right now!) while Trump is POTUS.
If history is a guide, the assumption that the Senate Dems will do very little is the more likely assumption.
Bad news is that “Scalia” will be restored to his seat now. And if Kennedy, Breyer, or Ginsburg retire or die while Trump is POTUS, there will be more “Scalias” on SCOTUS, thus ensuring a regressive majority for long into the future. Let’s hope that that doesn’t wind up happening…
You may not forget, but it is quite apparent that the voters did… or that they don’t care.