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If possible before the election, the President of the United States, Trump, wants to vote on the successor of the late Justice Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. For this he needs a majority in the Senate. Two senators reject loyalty. Whats Next?
After the death of Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the United States Senate must break new ground in politics. Never in the country’s recent history has a Supreme Court seat been vacated so close to elections. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that the Senate will vote on President Donald Trump’s staff proposal. However, he left it open when it would be. What are the next steps and what is important?
Can the Senate re-occupy the post before the elections?
Yes, but you’d have to set a dizzying pace for that. The previous nomination processes in the Senate took about 70 days, the last one so far for Brett Kavanaugh even significantly longer. However, the election is already on November 3, including Sunday in 45 days. There is no rule about how quickly the Senate must vote after Trump nominates a candidate. That is a political question and one of the majority relationships.
What does a candidate need for confirmation?
The majority. Republicans have 53 seats out of 100. That is, they could afford three negative votes from their ranks. In the event of a deadlock, Vice President Mike Pence would have the deciding vote. The next Senate meeting is scheduled for October. However, the date can be changed.
What role does the electoral campaign play?
The November 3 elections will also vote for 38 Senate seats, including 25 currently held by Republicans, including McConnell himself. Senators from constituencies with narrow majorities can avoid voting for one. Vote for Ginsburg’s successor. Others could participate in the election campaign with the promise that they would only vote for certain candidates. Such considerations could determine the timing.
Can the Senate decide on a Trump proposal after the election?
Yes, and that is until the next Congress meets on January 3, regardless of how the elections turn out. This means that Trump could lose his office on November 3, just as Republicans could lose their majority in the Senate, but they could still install a conservative judge and thus determine the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court for decades.
The Senate could vote on a Trump staffing proposal before January 20, the next date for the president to be sworn in. If Trump wins the election and his proposal is not confirmed by then, he could nominate his candidate a second time after January 20.
How does the confirmation of a candidate work?
Under the constitution, the president appoints a person to a vacant seat on the Supreme Court. The Judicial Committee reviews them, invites them to hearings and finally votes on the proposal. If the answer is yes, the final decision rests with the entire Senate.
The individual steps in this procedure can be time consuming. Senators generally want to speak and meet the nominees personally. This can take weeks, as long as everything goes well. In the Kavanaugh case, the trial dragged on because the Senate was examining allegations of assault against the candidate.
The chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Republican Lindsey Graham, is also fighting for re-election. In 2016 and 2018 he was still against a nomination as a judge in an election year, now he has announced that he will support Trump in the appointment.
Didn’t McConnell deny a pre-election nomination process in 2016?
Indeed. Just hours after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, considered a conservative, in February 2016, McConnell announced to a shocked Washington that the Senate would not consider any proposals from then-President Barack Obama. Voters must first elect a new president. This was the only way Trump could nominate conservative Neil Gorsuch after taking office in 2017. This time, McConnell would like to have a vote against, even though the election is less than seven weeks away.
What has changed since 2016?
McConnell argues that, unlike in 2016, this time the majority of the president and the Senate come from the same party. Democrats consider this justification ridiculous and demand that the Ginsburg judge position remain vacant until the new or reelected president takes office on January 20. Yet it is part of McConnell’s political program to fill as many judicial posts as possible with conservatives.
What senators are important?
Republicans can only afford three dissenters in the Senate. Two senators have already opposed a quick succession plan, and there are other volatile candidates.
Alaska State Senator Lisa Murkowski announced Sunday that she was standing firm in her position that a vacancy on the Supreme Court should not be filled shortly before the presidential election. She had already opposed a quick nomination in 2016 when the Republican majority in the Senate prevented Obama from nominating a candidate.
Murkwoski’s Republican colleague, Susan Collins, had previously stated that, in her opinion, the winner of the November 3 US presidential election should hold the seat for life. Collins is up for reelection in Maine.
Sen. Mitt Romney has kept a low profile until now. Other Republican senators from contested states may also be under pressure not to vote shortly before or after the election, like Cory Gardner of Colorado. Chuck Grassley of Iowa had supported McConnell’s maneuvers in 2016 as then chairman of the judicial committee, like Murkwoski. In July, he said that if it were up to him, if there was a vacancy on the Supreme Court, he would not allow a hearing now. “Because that’s what I promised people in 2016.”
What did Trump and Biden say?
Trump is picking up the pace. He announced that he would nominate a woman and that the Senate should vote on her immediately. He and the Senate are now in a powerful position in the nomination of judges and should use them. “We have an obligation,” he tweeted. His challenger Joe Biden, on the other hand, demands that the winner of the election decide on Ginsburg’s successor. “There is no question, let me be clear: the voters must choose the president, the president must choose the judge who will be examined by the Senate,” he said.
What: AP, dpa
