88°F
weather icon Clear

Knapp: the ‘Nuclear Option’ is not enough with court selection

On Jan. 31, president Donald Trump nominated federal appellate judge Neil Gorsuch to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court created nearly a year before by Associate Justice Antonin Scalia’s death.

More than two months later – nearly 14 months since Scalia’s passing and after 13 months of Republican stalling and refusal to even consider former president Barack Obama’s nomination of appellate judge Merrick Garland – the U.S. Senate is finally set to vote on Gorsuch’s nomination once it clears a final procedural hurdle (more on that below).

Unlike most politically engaged Americans, I have no strong opinion on the character or qualifications of Neil Gorsuch (or, for that matter, Merrick Garland). Because they’re appointed for life, Supreme Court justices tend to develop minds of their own rather than slavishly fulfilling the wishes of the presidents who nominate them or the parties they claim affiliation with.

I do, however, have strong and very negative opinions on the melodrama attending the whole process.

Chief Justice John Marshall was nominated to his position on January 20, 1801. The Senate stalled, declining to confirm Marshall and pushing president John Adams to substitute someone else. The matter dragged on … for seven whole days before a vote. Marshall took his seat on the court less than two weeks after Adams asked him to serve.

Two weeks in 1801, when news traveled at the speed of a horse. Fourteen months in 2016-17, when news travels at the speed of light. What’s wrong with this picture?

What’s wrong with it is that the Senate is a dilatory, time-wasting, procedurally hidebound body that these days walks (at a snail’s pace) every action of significance through multiple hearings in front of various committees before acting.

The final procedural hurdle I mentioned above is called “cloture.” It’s a vote to end debate, wrap the matter up and give Gorsuch the Senate’s final, for real, thumbs up or (or down).

Under current Senate rules cloture requires 60 votes. Republicans, with a bare majority in the Senate and no hope of winning cloture, are threatening “the nuclear option” – a rules change, which only requires a majority, to make cloture itself a mere majority vote.

I don’t think the “nuclear option” is enough. I’m with MacBeth: “If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well it were done quickly.”

Instead of changing the cloture rules, why not change the entire confirmation procedure? Put a hard deadline in the rules: On the tenth day following nomination, the nominee receives an up or down vote of the full Senate, period, no exceptions. Pre-vote committees get that long, and no longer, to do their jobs.

The Constitution calls for the Senate’s “advice and consent” on presidential appointments, not for months or years of screwing around.

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter:@thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north-central Florida.

Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST
 
Lombardo violated ethics laws, state commission executive director says

The state ethics commission’s executive director accuses Gov. Joe Lombardo of committing multiple ethics violations, including misusing his badge and uniform while campaigning for governor.

LETTER: Books in the children’s section; sexualization and grooming

Editor’s note: This complaint was originally emailed to Pahrump library trustee John Shewalter on Sept. 27, 2022. It is being republished after library trustees voted 5-0 Monday to craft a review system of “questionable” materials in the youth library that’s likely to include a number of LGBTQ-affirming titles. The writer of the complaint is unknown. Trustees redacted the name and email address of its sender before circulating a printed copy of the complaint at a public meeting this week.

COMMENTARY: Donald Trump gets just what he wanted

Does anyone really want to be indicted? Maybe if your name is Donald Trump, and you’re facing four investigations, three of them for serious abuse of presidential powers and one for using a lousy fix-it lawyer who paid hush money to an alleged mistress, writes columnist Susan Estrich.

TALK OF THE TOWN: Pahrump is hungry for new restaurants & business

Pahrump is hungry for new restaurants and other businesses. That’s evident by the long lines that snaked around the new Arby’s that opened along the frontage road of Highway 160 on Tuesday. Here’s what PV Times readers are saying about our most-read story of the week.