Can Senate Democrats Force A Vote On Obama’s Supreme Court Nominee?

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http://thefederalist.com/2016/02/16/can-senate-democrats-force-a-vote-on-obamas-supreme-court-nominee/

After the death of 79-year-old Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was reported last Saturday, Senate Republicans stated that they would not vote to confirm any replacement for Scalia until after the 2016 presidential election. The U.S. Constitution gives the U.S. Senate sole authority to determine whether nominees should be confirmed. In announcing their plans to leave Scalia’s seat vacant for the remainder of 2016, Senate Republicans followed the precedent set by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who vowed in 2007 to block any and all Supreme Court nominations by President George W. Bush should any vacancies arise.

The right of President Barack Obama to nominate a replacement for Scalia and the U.S. Senate’s right to withhold its consent to confirm his nominee have created something of a procedural impasse. Obama and the Democrats will surely try to make political hay of the Republicans’ unwillingness to confirm the president’s nominee this year. Republicans will no doubt tout years’ worth of Democratic promises to block Bush’s nominees–including then-Sen. Barack Obama’s own attempted filibuster of the Supreme Court nomination of Samuel Alito in 2006–as justification for their obstruction. What it really comes down to is that Democrats want to replace a solid conservative vote on the Supreme Court with a solid liberal one, a move with long-term legal and political implications, while Republicans wish to preserve the nomination for a potential Republican victor in November’s presidential election.

With 54 votes in the Senate, Republicans don’t need to rely on a filibuster to prevent confirmation of any future Obama nominees. They can refuse to hold hearings, refuse to report nominations out of committee, refuse to proceed to the executive nominations calendar, refuse to proceed to the nomination itself, or they can just vote to reject the nomination. Republicans would need to lose 14 votes before Senate Democrats would have enough votes to end debate and confirm a nominee (only 41 votes are required to continue debate, and prevent a final vote, on any matter). So what options do Senate Democrats have in the face of a Republican caucus which has more than enough votes to not only prevent confirmation, but also to prevent committee and floor consideration of any potential judicial nominees?