Watch what happens [-30].
Sounds as they they have a plan to deal with this. I did read (today???) that Yertle McConnell forced a vote on an appointment, I think judge, just in the last couple of days. I can't remember where I saw it, though.
Aha, here’s the article I saw about Yertle and judges. At least one step forward. I think I saw another article about planning to speed them up as well.
Senate Republicans confirm Trump judicial nominee, overruling home-state Democrat
McConnell trying to push through judicial nominees
148 federal judicial vacancies, while 76 are pending nominations. Doug McKelway reports.
For years, senators have been able to effectively block judicial nominees from their home states through what’s known as the “blue slip” process.
But on Thursday — amid Republican frustration over many of President Trump’s nominees being blocked — Senate Republicans decided to override one such objection from a Democratic senator and confirm the nominee anyway.
Milwaukee attorney Michael Brennan was confirmed to fill an opening on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin had stalled Brennan’s nomination.
The seat has been open for more than eight years, the longest for the nation’s appellate courts.
...snip...
Aha, here it is - a link in the above article led me to it.
Stalled judicial nominees will be confirmed ‘no matter what tactics’ employed, McConnell says
It’s a process that was made easier by then Majority Leader Harry Reid’s 2013 decision to exercise the so-called “nuclear option,” ending the minority party’s ability to use the filibuster to block nominees. It now requires only a simple majority to move a nominee through the Senate.
Democrats are left with only a couple of procedural weapons to stall President Trump’s court picks. One of them is forcing 30 hours of debate on each nominee. Considering the sheer number of federal court vacancies – 148 in all – that’s no small impediment, one that has frustrated Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. “We’re going to confirm these judges. I don’t care what tactics they employ,” he recently told Fox News’s Martha MacCallum.
One technique Republicans are using to meet McConnell’s mandate to free up the backlog is a change in the Senate’s “blue slip” process. Senators from a nominee’s home state have traditionally had the power to withhold a blue slip on a nominee’s qualifications to the Judiciary Committee Chairman. Such a thumbs down effectively blocked the President’s pick.
...snip...
Sounds as they they have a plan to deal with this.
I did read (today???) that Yertle McConnell forced a vote on an appointment, I think the judge, just in the last couple of days. I can't remember where I saw it, though.
Note that the -30 is in a kill box [ ]
So it means deleted with extreme prejudice.
On your second question:
The turtle threatened to hold over the Senate hearing to get the judge appointed....and the dims and GOPe caved.
Chalk one up to the Turtle.