The Constitution provides the Senate must have a majority of its members (51) present to conduct business. Without McCain the GOP only has 50. If Schumer is even half of McConnell, he'll hold all 49 DEM Senators out of the Senate to prevent a vote on Kavanaugh.
Refusing to be part of quorum should be easier than voting against 4 red state Dems, Jones & Manchin. Given McConnell's refusal to hold any hearings on Garland, GOP's hiding Kavanaugh's record & Trump's illegitimacy, any politician should be able to make this case to constituents
Pence is not a part of this equation. The vice president can only vote to break a tie.
The biggest "if" is whether McCain can remain in office long enough to avoid Arizona's GOP Governor from replacing him with an appointee who'll show up and make the quorum.
Here's an opp for Corker or Flake to make a major impact simply by not showing up 4 the vote. Unexpected to be sure.
Still researching the extent to which Senate Sergeant of Arms & Capital Police can arrest absent senators, like Packwood in 1988, and force their attendance. How far can they go? What limits are there? What happened in Texas applies only to Texas.
With the passing of John McCain (RIP) & the likely appointment by Arizona's Governor of a Republican replacement, this quorum gambit becomes untenable.
As noted below the quorum strategy becomes untenable with the passing of John McCain & the appointment by Arizona's Governor of a replacement Republican, which will give the GOP an active majority of 51 votes.
