But what about the new rule passed, the nuclear option, which bans filibusters on presidential nominees? This seems like something they will do in the lame duck session.
Despite the nuked appointment filibuster, there still needs to be some time on the schedule to hold a cursory debate and a vote. So exercising the filibuster - and I mean a real hold the floor and talk talk talk one - on the legislation would have the effect of running down the clock on any appointments.
And to add, there’ll definitely be one (LA) and possibly a second (GA) senate runoff. Dems are going to be extremely reluctant to sacrifice those seats for an AG nominee, given the math for them to recapture the Senate in 2016. Look at how a number of Obama appointees have been defeated recently on simple majority votes.