All Your Wildest SCOTUS-Blocking Fantasies, Crushed
The Senate has the votes. It’s going to be hard to stop it.
The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg has plunged the 2020 presidential campaign into turmoil. An election already defined by a historic pandemic and a generational conversation about race in the United States now has the added complication of the battle over the Supreme Court seat vacated by Ginsburg’s death.
With six weeks before the election, Senate Republicans have pledged to fill the vacancy as quickly as possible. This stands in stark contrast to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s blockade of Merrick Garland’s nomination to the seat opened up by Antonin Scalia’s death in February 2016. Then, Republicans insisted that no Supreme Court nominee could be voted on until after the November election.
While Republicans have insisted the two scenarios are different, Democrats have reacted in outrage at what they perceive as GOP hypocrisy about the court and have insisted they will do everything possible to block a confirmation before November 3.
So can Democrats block a replacement to Ginsburg before the election?
Almost certainly not. When it comes to judicial nominations, the Senate is fundamentally a…
