Historically speaking, when the GOP plays nice and tries to be besties with the Democratic Party, thinking it’ll get some love in return, it keeps getting burned! It’s like that one friend who always promises to pay you back but conveniently forgets every time. Well, it looks like the GOP has learned its lesson.
Democrats have been hoping to get judicial nominations moving again by temporarily replacing Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on the Senate Judiciary Committee — a move that requires GOP support. When this idea was first proposed, I must admit, I thought the GOP would cave. But it turns out the Senate GOP has a backbone after all, and Republicans on the Judiciary Committee quickly came out in opposition to the plan to appoint a temporary replacement for Feinstein.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) nevertheless formally introduced a resolution to name a temporary replacement for Feinstein on the committee, which was promptly blocked. “Schumer, D-N.Y., introduced the resolution and asked that it be approved by unanimous consent – a method that requires every senator to agree. Unanimous consent allows the Senate to quickly approve non-controversial measures without hours and days of necessary debate in the upper chamber,” Fox News reported Tuesday. “But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., stood to oppose the move and [rejected] Schumer’s request. That objection means Democrats will need to find 60 votes to approve his request, which will require 10 Republicans to cross the aisle.”
In other words, it’s dead on arrival. They don’t have the votes, and even moderate Republican Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) have come out in opposition to the so-called Feinstein plan.
This was the right to do, and I’m glad the GOP was united on this. if the situation were reversed, Democrats would likely adopt the same stance as Republicans and refuse to compromise. It’s gratifying to witness a rare instance of solidarity in the GOP to not fall for the Democrats’ tactics. As Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pointed out, Feinstein’s absence from the judiciary committee will have minimal impact on its proceedings, as her participation would only benefit the small number of Biden nominees who are too radical and unqualified to secure a bipartisan vote from the committee.
“People who are mainstream and qualified have a path forward. And yet — some of the same far-left voices who’ve attacked Senator Feinstein in the past are now suggesting that the Senate move her off the Judiciary Committee indefinitely,” McConnell explained in remarks on the Senate floor. “The stated reason, the supposed emergency, is that Senate Democrats are unable to push through the small fraction of their nominees who are so extreme and unqualified that they cannot win a single Republican vote in Committee. Let me say that again. The far left wants the full Senate to move a Senator off a committee so they can ram through a small sliver of their nominees who are especially extreme or unqualified.”
Related: Joe Biden’s Judicial Nominees Are Embarrassingly Awful
He went on to explain that there are only four nominees that Democrats are struggling to move forward due to their lack of bipartisan support. These nominees have questionable backgrounds, including threatening an abuse victim, lacking knowledge of the Constitution and legal procedures, and even arguing that the sex offender registry doesn’t protect children. The only people holding up the business of the Senate Judiciary Committee are the Democrats, who aren’t proceeding without Feinstein to move nominees with bipartisan support to the full Senate.