Politics
Democrats Have Few Tactical Options to Fight Supreme Court Pick
Senate rules provide some delay tactics, but not many now that filibuster is unavailable
Posted Jul 10, 2018 5:05 AM
Ed Pesce
Democrats can make as much noise as they want about President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, but they have few procedural weapons at their disposal to stop Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation on their own — although they can make life difficult along the way.
One strategy for the Senate Democrats may be to create as much time as possible between Monday night’s announcement and the Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearings.
Critics can seek to spread out the timeline so they can dig into the prospective justice’s background, writings and paperwork.
As opponents did with former President George W. Bush’s ill-fated pick in 2005, Harriet Miers, they can work to demonstrate the candidate’s shortcomings and possible political ties.
That also may mean mining the rule books to see how they can slow the committee process. But since the precedents were changed over the last few years, only a simple majority of senators is needed to break a potential filibuster.
more
http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/democrats-tactical-options-fight-supreme-court-pick
