Posted on 04/01/2017 1:01:12 PM PDT by mdittmar
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is headed for a tense showdown over President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee that could have far-reaching consequences for Congress, the high court and the nation.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his Republicans are determined to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch within the week. But to do so, they will likely have to override Democratic objections and unilaterally change Senate rules so that Gorsuch can be confirmed with a simple majority in the 100-seat chamber, instead of the 60-voter threshold.
Though it may seem arcane, the approach is known on Capitol Hill as the "nuclear option," because it strikes at the heart of the Senate's traditions of bipartisanship and collegiality.
(Excerpt) Read more at bigstory.ap.org ...
SCOTUS has nothing to say about Senate rules.
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Where does it say they do in the posted piece?
I didn’t go read the rest of the article.
For God’s sake, Senate Republicans, get a backbone, get a spine, get a pair of balls!
The filibuster is not in the constitution. It is an odd tradition that was created to make the Senate feel special. Get rid of it and all will be better off.
All this gnashing of teeth from the media and Left rings hollow when they were giddily cheering and celebrating Harry Reid's 'nuking' of the filibuster for judicial nominations back in 2013.
As far as I can tell the only reason dingy and the dhimmis didn’t avail themselves of the nuclear option was because they didn’t need it - the pubbies were accommodating to their crappy SCOTUS picks. As a matter of fact the vote is never close - unless it is for a pubbie nominee.
The filibuster was an excellent invention at a time that the Senators were ambassadors sent by their States to Washington.
It makes sense that, for Executive or House of Representatives actions requiring Senate confirmation that 2/3 of the States (through their ambassadors) would assent, because it was intended that the Union of States would persist, and treaties, laws, and appointments arrived at by a simple majority of the States might be repugnant to a large minority.
Unfortunately, those days are gone for good. Senators are now mere super-congressmen, chosen by the same methods as Members of Congress and subject to the same incentives and dis-incentives.
Eliminating the filibuster is regrettable, because it transfers even more power to the executive and it bolsters the notion that the President and the Presidency are representative institutions, that if the Senators are super-congressmen then the President is a super-duper congressman - and leads us, inexorably, I fear, to a dictatorship of the majority.
But, that’s how we live now. Nuke ‘em Mitch. If you have the votes.
Actually the “nuclear option” does not conform to the Constitution which stipulates a simple majority is all that is necessary. And where was the “collegiality” when the Dems rammed through Obamacare without one Republican vote during reconciliation with reps from the House? Republicans historically have wanted to be collegial instead of exercising power when it was voted to them.
I am in favor of the later.
Allow anyone to speak on the bill on the floor, talk as long as you want. If for any reason you leave the podium or fail to actually speak for a time period of 1 min, your session is over. Once your session is over, another can take the podium. Once you have had your turn at the podium you can not speak again until a new bill is introduced to the floor.
I am in favor of the later.
Allow anyone to speak on the bill on the floor, talk as long as you want. If for any reason you leave the podium or fail to actually speak for a time period of 1 min, your session is over. Once your session is over, another can take the podium. Once you have had your turn at the podium you can not speak again until a new bill is introduced to the floor.
US Senate
with a two-thirds vote,
you can suspend the rules
or not
Sorry to disagree, but it is: "The Senate's power to establish rules derives from Article One, Section 5 of the United States Constitution: 'Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings...'"
I don't really know if the country would be better off if the minority lacked the ability to hamstring the majority with filibusters. It seems so when "our party" is frustrated by the opposition's filibuster, but when the shoe is on the other foot it's nice to have that parliamentary tool available.
I'd prefer to see a rule change back to the one prevailing until 1970 when Sen. Mike Mansfield engineered a system that allowed the Senate by unanimous consent or approval of the minority leader to bypass a filibustered bill and go on to another one. That took Senators' frustration and endurance out of the filibuster.
It’s important to note:
On july 20, 2006, Neil Gorsuch was confirmed by unanimous vote in the U.S. Senate to a seat on the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. Today, every Democrat can find an excuse to oppose his nomination to the Supreme Court. It is all about the abortion issue. Can’t anyone else see through this?
The Republicrats have to be ‘very cordial’ in their role as the Demoncrat’s ‘opposition party’......the designated losers only get very confrontational with Tea Party conservatives....
ummm, hypocrisy and dishonesty defines the Demoncraps.... surely you’ve noticed this?
Absolutely without a doubt & they would glory in it.
Yes, McCain is typical; he is always “crossing the aisle” and “being bipartisan” to get things done, usually negotiating against himself in the hope of getting back on tv and maybe getting invited to a bipartisan congressional dinner. Yet McCain reserves his venom from his “Straight Talk Express” for his own party’s President and other Republican Senators and Congressman. I have never heard a peep out of McCain criticizing Democrats except for John Lewis, who personally attacked him for some type of racial insensitivity during the 2008 campaign.
Not only that, but Kagan had NEVER been a judge prior to her SCOTUS nomination.
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