Senate Democrats are accusing Republicans of stealing the vacant Supreme Court and are vowing to filibuster President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.
Politico reported:
With Trump prepared to announce his nominee on Tuesday evening, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said in an interview on Monday morning that he will filibuster any pick that is not Merrick Garland and that the vast majority of his caucus will oppose Trump’s nomination. That means Trump’s nominee will need 60 votes to be confirmed by the Senate.
“This is a stolen seat. This is the first time a Senate majority has stolen a seat,” Merkley said in an interview. “We will use every lever in our power to stop this.”
Democrats have the 41 votes needed to block Trump’s nominee confirmation by a super majority vote. Senate Majority Leader McConnell absolutely does not want to change the rules to get the President’s nominee confirmed by a simple majority vote, because a change in the rules will come back to haunt Republicans once Democrats take back the Senate.
Senate Democrats are enraged over McConnell’s blocking of Obama Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, and they are determined to leave the seat vacant. With a midterm election coming up next year, the goal for Democrats should be to tie up Trump’s Supreme Court nominee through at minimum November 2018.
If Democrats take back the Senate in 2018, Trump will never get to fill the vacant Supreme Court seat.
Democrats wanted action from their Senators in resistance to Trump. They are about to get it in a big way, as for only the second time in US history, a Supreme Court nominee is going to be filibustered.