In the event that Supreme Court Justice, Stephen Breyer does decide to retire, Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader (R-KY), could possibly stop President Joe Biden from replacing him due to a “little noticed backroom deal”
In order to elect a judicial nominee, 51 votes from the Senate are needed. The Senate is currently tied 50-50 Democrat/Republican, with Vice President Harris as the tie breaker. This is referred to as the “nuclear option.”
Below are some statements from a report by TIME Magazine:
“… the nuclear option can go into motion only if the Judiciary Committee reports the nomination to the floor, a procedural move that says whether a majority on the committee recommends the full Senate consider the pick,”
“Well, in a little-noticed backroom deal that took more than a month to hammer out, McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to a power-sharing plan in February that splits committee membership, staffs and budgets in half.”
“If all 11 Republican members of the Judiciary Committee oppose Biden’s pick and all 11 Democrats back her, the nomination goes inert. The nomination doesn’t die, but it does get parked until a lawmaker—historically, the Leader of the party—brings it to the floor for four hours of debate.”
“A majority of the Senate—51 votes, typically—can then put debate about the issue on the calendar for the next day. But that’s the last easy part. When the potential pick comes to the floor again, it’s not as a nomination. At that point, it’s a motion to discharge, a cloture motion that requires 60 votes. In other words, 10 Republicans would have to resurrect the nomination of someone already blocked in the Judiciary Committee.”
On Wednesday, McConnell stated that he will wait to make an announcement until the retirement has been confirmed by Breyer and an official announcement has been made.
Read more on The Daily Wire.
