On the contrary, I believe a good chunk of posters, especially regulars in the Politics and GD forums, are fully aware that a person needn’t be a member of the House to be elected to the House Speakership, Constitutionally speaking.
During my talk today with my landlord, he suggested that Vice President Harris doesn’t have the power to break a tie in the Senate when it comes to Supreme Court nominees. I found an article in which that argument is laid out.
Thoughts? I hope it’s not true.
People need to stop worrying about what the federalist papers said.
The constitution is very simple (in this case).
The Democrats didn’t do themselves any favors by saying this stupid crap when the GOP had a slim majority, but theres absolutely no chance this will prevent a senate confirmation.
My thought is that the leading candidates for the nomination, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Leondra Kruger, have political views consistent with nomination success.
This twelve-years-old news should not be harped upon, but says to me that Jackson at least doesn’t regard conservatives as having cooties.
Kruger is also pegged as a moderate.
Unless Biden surprises us by nominating a woke law professor, or the vocal leader of a a civil rights organization, there probably won’t be need for a tie-breaker.
DTS, I agree that the Constitution seems clear and if there is any substance to Mr. Tribe’s argument, the linked article failed to convey it.
But you also did something that people do all the time on this board and it drives me crazy. One guy, who has never held elected office, writes an editorial. The OP’s link didn’t suggest that any actual Democratic politician endorsed this idea.
And yet you write “The Democrats did themselves no favors”. Anything anyone left of center says is assumed to be the official position of The Democrats.
Fair enough. I didn’t look into how close this guy was to any of the dems that matter.
Hottest take evah [not mine]:
“The words “Black” and “woman” appear nowhere in the Constitution, so it’s unclear if nominating a Black woman to the Supreme Court would even be constitutional.“
Over/under # of senators who would agree if polled anonymously? I’d say 49.
I can’t believe people think this, but obviously they do.
Are you thinking Tim Scott is one of the 49? And at least six of the seven female GOP Senators think that? All I can say is - no. They take support where they can get it.
Hershel Walker.'s poll numbers crush all white GOP primary opponents. How can one reconcile that with your 49 number?
The only reason they don’t have Black female senators, or justices, is that there aren’t a whole lot of plausible candidates. Diamond and Silk got kicked off Fox for being too extreme even for them, not because of being Black women (and D&S are now on Newsmax.)
Mia Love lost to a Democrat, not in a primary, and if the far right didn’t adore her, it was because of moderation, not race.
Look at it from an originalist perspective - the founders clearly never intended to have a justice who wasn’t a white guy.
This just in: Nikole Hannah-Jones nominated…
Laurence Tribe doesn’t represent “Democrats,” but his favorite role is staking out tortured Constitutional interpretations that favor Democrat’s political interests. His interpretation here is almost laughable and seems to come down to “the VP didn’t break any ties on nominations before Pence.” But there WERE no ties before – it’s only very recently that votes on nominations have become overwhelmingly partisan and that the partisan split in the chamber was close enough for there to be ties.
To be fair, he says that he’d wouldn’t change his mind just because there is a Democratic Vice President. But then he gives himself an out by saying he’d have to review criticism of his 2020 op-ed if the issue became relevant. Very lawyer-y.
Well, he is a lawyer and all…
It was pointed out by the talking heads on the teevee that Ronald Reagan made a campaign pledge in 1980 to appoint a woman to the court. And, once elected, he fulfilled that promise by appointing Sandra Day O’Connor as the first female Justice.
Now, Biden is seeking to fulfill a similar campaign promise - appoint a black female. It’s one additional quality, but it’s otherwise the same pledge that Regan made.
Democrats didn’t try to stop O’Connor’s appointment on the basis that she was a woman, and they’ve never, to my knowledge, gone to court to sue to stop the appointment of a white male justice on the basis of his race or gender.
This conniption fit appears to be exclusive to the reactionary right.
What I don’t get is why it should take Biden the better part of a month to announce a pick. If I was president, I’d have my list of nominees set and I’d trot out my nominee the day after the justice’s retirement is announced. The Democrats must strike quickly, if they lose one member in the Senate Biden will never get to name a justice.
I’m sure he had a short list ready, but that doesn’t include the deep background checks and all the other political stuff they do before picking one for sure.
The point is, why not? In this day and age, there’s no reason not to have three or four picks deeply vetted and ready to go.
Exactly as others have mentioned - vetting and deep background checks. Even if the person he picks is extra super squeaky clean the rabid right will be doing everything they can to sabotage the nominee. Biden needs to be sure there is absolutely nothing off with the person he picks. A month is barely much time to get that done.
Along with vetting, my somewhat educated guess is, this doesn’t just affect the SCOTUS. It will leave a vacancy on the DC Circuit if it’s Ketanji Brown Jackson, or on the California Supreme Court Leondra Kruger.
It’s not just about who ends up on the Supreme Court. It’s about who will replace the vacancy. Believe me, it’s very important, especially if the pick is Ketanji Brown Jackson.
It’s also part of stroking the candidates who don’t get the nomination — if he announces his pick immediately it seems like they weren’t even considered. And each one has important political backers. As I mentioned, J. Michelle Childs is a favorite of Rep James Clyburn who saved Biden’s campaign in South Carolina.
But with the Chamber of American Geriatrics teetering on a knife’s edge at 50-50, the luxury of time is not something Biden has. All Democrats from all corners, as well as all potential nominees and their supporters, know this, and should let the president make a speedy pick without getting butthurt about optics. The nominee should’ve already been vetted and ready to roll out within a week or so of the retirement announcement.
Ffs people! Remember the Garland!!