With enormous respect for the great Senator Durbin, I want to offer a few thoughts here.
Tl;dr there is a 100% chance McConnell would have gone nuclear immediately.
It’s important to remember that McConnell could use any nominee to go nuclear on all nominees, including SCOTUS.
Tl;dr there is a 100% chance McConnell would have gone nuclear immediately.
It’s important to remember that McConnell could use any nominee to go nuclear on all nominees, including SCOTUS.
If the 60 vote threshold existed in Jan 2017, Dems would surely have filibustered Trump nominees. All McConnell would’ve had to do is pick one nom and use that person as a hook to go nuclear on all noms.
Any nom would do- judicial, cabinet, anyone requiring Senate confirmation.
Any nom would do- judicial, cabinet, anyone requiring Senate confirmation.
The fact that the 60 vote threshold continued to exist for SCOTUS but not other noms is a quirk of the fact that when we went nuclear in 2013, we excluded SCOTUS.
There’s no reason McConnell would have to exclude SCOTUS and he’d have every reason in the world not to.
There’s no reason McConnell would have to exclude SCOTUS and he’d have every reason in the world not to.
Going nuclear allowed us to confirm more Obama nominees, including federal judges, than we would’ve otherwise.
If you think McConnell reshaping the judiciary is a bad thing, consider how much worse it would be if there were even more vacancies for him to fill than there are now.
If you think McConnell reshaping the judiciary is a bad thing, consider how much worse it would be if there were even more vacancies for him to fill than there are now.
In sum, if Dems hadn’t gone nuclear, McConnell would’ve stood on the floor in Jan 2017 with far more judicial vacancies to fill, and all he would have had to do was find one sympathetic nominee (for *any* position) to use as a hook to go nuclear on all nominees, including SCOTUS.
I really can’t overstate how much I love and respect Senator Durbin. You will not find a more genuine, down-to-Earth, true blue progressive in the Senate. He has been a hugely impactful champion on so many issues we care about. But I wanted to offer an alternate view here.
