Step by Step, see the process - including the "nuclear" option

Meet The Nuclear Option: A Primer on How a Supreme Court Justice is Confirmed

UPDATE: TRUMP TELLS REPUBLICANS TO USE NUCLEAR OPTION IF FILIBUSTER OCCURS

Diane Lilli
Posted

Breaking News UPDATE: Trump tells Republicans to use the "nuclear option" as explained, below. Here is previous story.

Last night President Trump announced his choice to fill the slot in the Supreme Court, which as been vacant since the death of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, 11 months ago. Trump’s pick is Judge Neil Gorsuch, a judge with impeccable legal credentials and a reported history of a calm, constitution-based approach to legal battles.

Now, thereare specific steps that must be taken to confirm any Supreme Court candidate.

As early as this morning, Gorsuch’s nomination will be sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, comprised of 20 Senators. On this board are a majority of 11 Republicans and a minority of 9 Democrats.

What can take time on this end is the individual members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who will research thoroughly the background of Gorsuch, after this nominee completes a very in-depth, intensive questionnaire. Everything Gorsuch has done to date, including his court cases, statements during trials, press quotes and writing, will be read and discussed by the members. Witnesses are also called to speak to the members.

Once this process is complete, Gorsuch will have a confirmation hearing. This is the hearing and subsequent report as to whether the Senate Judiciary Committee is recommendation to the entire Senate body.

Then, after this process which may take a few days or event a week, the entire Senate will vote on Gorsuch becoming a Supreme Court Judge.

This is where the process can get tricky, since politics often plays a role in this choice of justice.

Even before Gorsuch is confirmed, Democrats can make Republicans get 60 votes for him. This means that if no Democrats want to vote for him, the Republicans may not get an easy confirmation, since the Senate currently has only 52 Republicans.

This is where a filibuster comes in: if the Republicans cannot get their 60 votes ahead of the entire Senate vote, the entire process stalls.

A filibuster seems likely, since there is an ongoing battle in the Senate between Democrats and Republicans about issues such as the new Trump immigration bans in place. Also, in 2016 under Obama’s administration, Republicans would not hold any confirmation hearings for Judge Merrick Garland when he was nominated for the Supreme Court.

The ONLY way to avoid this filibuster (which seems likely) would be for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to change the filibuster rules so Democrats cannot block Supreme Court nominees. Interestingly, this is called the “nuclear” option! With both sides of the Senate, House and entire country at odds over the new policies being launched by new President Trump, the nuclear option is highly probable.

Stay tune - Updates to follow.