# Shouldn't the Republicans be reconsidering hearings?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shouldnt-the-republicans-be-reconsidering-hearings/761689>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [August 3, 2016, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shouldnt-the-republicans-be-reconsidering-hearings/761689 "2016-08-03T21:11:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 17

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**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shouldnt-the-republicans-be-reconsidering-hearings/761689/17 "2016-08-04T05:37:57Z")

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As I [noted](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19458580&postcount=64) last month when this was discussed:

> [@Fascinating article- why politics is so insane lately.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-article-why-politics-is-so-insane-lately/758720/64):
>
> …I would not be at all surprised for things to progress such that Senate Republicans will simply refuse to hold hearings on any Supreme Court nominee by any Democratic president so long as they control the Senate. After all, the American people obviously elected them to block any so-called liberal justices.
> 
> This current situation could be a foreshadowing of a future in which the Supreme Court is unable to muster a quorum ([which is six justices](https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/supct/rule_4)), and just like that, we’ve lost the highest court in the land, with its attendant checks on the other two branches of government.

> [@Fascinating article- why politics is so insane lately.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-article-why-politics-is-so-insane-lately/758720/71):
>
> …if this trend continues, we could very easily end up with a situation in which no presidential nominees ever get hearings if the opposing party controls the Senate.
> 
> As I indicated a few posts back, this could soon result in the Supreme Court being unable to muster a quorum, not to mention all of the other unfilled presidential appointments. This doesn’t seem like a great situation to look forward to, and is one more example of how our entire political process seems to be grinding to a halt.

So far as judicial appointments are concerned, we’re not far from this situation [now](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/obama-nominations-blocked-senate-judges-217589).

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