If you’ve been hearing that the Democrats may still have a chance to installed Judge Garland into SCOTUS, but don’t really know what’s going on, Aaron Blake describes the two scenarios in WaPo here. The first is to take advantage of the Senate supposedly being out of session while the new members are sworn in. In this scenario, Obama would make a recess appointment, which is good for a year. SCOTUS has had recess appointments before, but it’s rare.
The second basically comes down to taking advantage of the fact that, come January 3rd, for a short while, the Senate doesn’t have 100 members, but only 66 – and the Democrats will have a 36-30 advantage. For those few minutes, Garland could be renominated, considered, and confirmed. Supposedly.
The legal thicket is formidable. The cultural consequences – either way – are deeply confusing. For most, it’s a question of whether the damage of the potential IJ1 to liberal causes is worth starting a strong Cold War between the Parties. One facet that might not be immediately obvious, though, is the continuing evolution of the GOP. As it continues to head further to the right, will its strength and influence shrink? Will Trump’s swamp, getting deeper and deeper with every billionaire he nominates, ultimately drown the outrage of such a maneuver – successful or not? There’s a lot of calculated risks here, and I suspect the Democrats are just shaking their heads at these proposals.
But, just as a way to fire the imagination, they’re interesting.
