Posted on 04/10/2017 4:33:05 PM PDT by Kaslin
Markey Claims That Dems will Restore Filibuster for Supreme Court Nominees
Sen. Ed Markey (D., Mass.) claimed Monday that Democrats will restore the 60-vote threshold for Supreme Court nominees once his party retakes the majority in the Senate.
"When the Democrats return to the majority and capture the presidency, which we will," Markey said, "that day is going to arrive [and] we will restore the 60-vote margin."
"We will ensure that for the Supreme Court, there is that special margin that any candidate has to reach because that is essential to ensuring that our country has a confidence in those people who are nominated," Markey added. "Rather than just someone who passes a litmus test."
MSNBC host Katy Tur asked Markey earlier in the interview whether he and Democrats had regrets about opposing President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, who was sworn in on Monday. Democrats mounted the votes to filibuster Gorsuch, a rarity for Supreme Court picks.
Markey castigated Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) and Senate Republicans for invoking the so-called "nuclear option" by lowering the cloture threshold from 60 votes to a simple majority of 51. He called their move "unprecedented" and said that they "destroyed" the Supreme Court nomination process.
The Senate then confirmed Gorsuch last Friday with a 54-45 vote in favor of his nomination, and he was officially sworn in on Monday.
This tactic was used by Senate Republicans to overcome the filibuster effort by Democrats, but it was initiated by former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev) and Senate Democrats in 2013 when they controlled the chamber, the Washington Free Beacon reported:
Senate Democrats first employed the nuclear option back in 2013 to advance former President Obama's judicial nominations, although the Supreme Court was not included in the rule change. The move was used to circumvent Republican efforts to filibuster some of Obama's nomineesThree and a half years later, Democrats have threatened to filibuster the nomination of Gorsuch, President Trump's pick for the nation's highest court. The Senate's 52 Republicans threatened to use the nuclear option to break the filibuster and did so on Thursday.
No, they won’t.
Hah hah, no they won’t! LOL
Uh, no. dems will change, republicans restored.
Keep reading the constitution. Not even sure if an actual vote was required....which we have interpreted as Majority Rules.
I say let him think that.
When his party hasn’t been in control for 40 years, it may dawn on him that wasn’t such a swift promise.
Ed who?
Oh, well. Markey. I’m fully on board with that BS, er, promise.
Under President Chelsea Clinton and Majority Leader Lena Dunham?
Markey is known as one of the least intelligent members of the Senate...and that’s going some, given the plethora of knotheads who populate the body.
More Democrat lies and sheer bluster. Democrats can’t be believed or trusted with anything they say they will do unless it involves stripping rights, redistributing wealth, or increasing government.
They better get used to it.
Talk is cheap.
Yeah, and Santa will really come down my chimney.
This is such an obvious fairy tale I can’t imagine why Markey bothered to utter it.
Markey barely knows what day it is much less what the Dems will do. I’m betting they won’t change a thing. Why would they?
What would Harry Reid do?
Ed Markey is a communist scumbag.
Didn’t that used to be frowned upon in the USA?
Does Makarky have some ocean front property in Arizona he’s try to sell? I wouldn’t buy it. Nor will I buy that the democrats would ever change the threshold back to 60 votes.
I think before the democrats take the Senate and the presidency, the Supreme Court will be 6-3 or 7-2 conservative...
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