Suppose that Republicans have at least 51 and no more than 55 Senators next year, and that a Supreme Court justice gets hit by a bus. Would you expect every GOP Senator to vote against cloture on Barack Obama's nominee, with the penalty being a certain primary challenge? If so, can you picture any compromise that most conservatives could live with that would allow Obama to put someone on the Court? How do you see such a confrontation playing out?
(Do you really have to be a conservative to answer?) At this point, I can't picture any such compromise. The GOP base didn't even trust Bush's choice of Harriet Miers on his say-so (remember, her nomination foundered on GOP opposition). The base insisted on Alito (or the like, but they got Alito). How GOP senators could make a deal with Obama on a nominee acceptable to Obama . . . nope.
ReplyDeleteHazarding a prediction: If Obama stays true to course, were this to occur, the admin would put forward someone eminently qualified and reasonable (well within the legal mainstream). And it wouldn't matter one bit.
The only way I could see a new justice approved is if a current or former senator were nominated.
ReplyDeleteNice point, Mercer. But I wonder if even that would work today. It's not like it's the Ol' Boys' Club up there, any more.
ReplyDeleteIf it's a conservative judge, leave the seat open and keep putting up liberals.
ReplyDeleteThe court would be evenly divided during this stint and there would be no incentive for the Democrats to put up someone conservative. Plus, rejecting Supreme Court nominees does have costs.
Can the GOP reject three, four, eight nominees?