Judges

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2023/01/30/based-on-bidens-two-years-of-judicial-appointments-trumps-four-year-record-seems-secure/

This is an interesting study from Brookings.  I looked for it because I believe judicial appointments are stalled right now because Senator Feinstein is out and has been for a while.  She is so old she isn't even a boomer.  These judicial vacancies are absolutely crucial to our future and must not be stalled by anything.  Fill those vacancies.  It is the power that Democrats kept by holding the Senate.  And for heavens sake, let's get younger folks into office.  

Schumer could remove her from that committee assignment today. 

Biden still has more appointments than Trump.  The Brookings article invented "metrics" to create a false impression.  This chart is in the article.

https://www.npr.org/2023/04/13/1169664922/dianne-feinstein-resign-judiciary-committee

Apparently, she's asked to be replaced on the committee, at least temporarily.  Good news.

dave said:

Schumer could remove her from that committee assignment today.

What makes you think that? Everything I read says committee removal requires Senate approval (which can be filibustered), since it would alter the conditions of the resolution that the Senate passes at the start of the term to assign committee seats.

DaveSchmidt said:

dave said:

Schumer could remove her from that committee assignment today.

What makes you think that? Everything I read says committee removal requires Senate approval (which can be filibustered), since it would alter the conditions of the resolution that the Senate passes at the start of the term to assign committee seats.

I kind of inferred it after reading this story, but he, Schumer, could have meant he wouldn't bring it up for a vote.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3768741-schumer-says-sinema-can-keep-committee-assignments-after-leaving-democratic-party/

Senate Republicans will try to block Feinstein’s Judiciary replacement (WaPo)

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) announced on Twitter on Monday that she would “not go along with Chuck Schumer’s plan to replace Senator Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee and pack the court with activist judges.”

She joins Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a close ally of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), in publicly announcing she will not support a temporary replacement for Feinstein.

Their objections add up to a major headache for Democrats, who were hoping to quickly solve the political and tactical problem of Feinstein this week by replacing her on the committee. Most committee assignments for both Republicans and Democrats are passed without fanfare or controversy by unanimous voice votes on the Senate floor. But now with Republicans lining up to object to the temporary change, it’s clear replacing Feinstein on the committee would take 60 votes to approve, which means at least 10 Republicans would need to back the measure.

It is typical that Democrats would still think that republicans will respect the informal rules that have been in place.  This should surprise absolutely no one, and is just one more reason why we get beat all over the place.  "Hey, they are not playing by the rules" could be the motto of us Democrats.  These old Senators need to resign before they get us to this point instead of thinking that only they can do the job.

PVW said:

Senate Republicans will try to block Feinstein’s Judiciary replacement (WaPo)

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) announced on Twitter on Monday that she would “not go along with Chuck Schumer’s plan to replace Senator Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee and pack the court with activist judges.”

She joins Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a close ally of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), in publicly announcing she will not support a temporary replacement for Feinstein.

Their objections add up to a major headache for Democrats, who were hoping to quickly solve the political and tactical problem of Feinstein this week by replacing her on the committee. Most committee assignments for both Republicans and Democrats are passed without fanfare or controversy by unanimous voice votes on the Senate floor. But now with Republicans lining up to object to the temporary change, it’s clear replacing Feinstein on the committee would take 60 votes to approve, which means at least 10 Republicans would need to back the measure.

So the push for her to resign, would result in the same problem, right? The new Senator would still need the votes to get the committee assignment or could Schumer just appoint them?

As for her future replacement post retirement, as much as I really like Katie Porter, I've been an Adam Shiff fan for a long time. I'm still on the fence.

The answer may be in the article but I couldn't open it.

Morganna said:

So the push for her to resign, would result in the same problem, right? The new Senator would still need the votes to get the committee assignment or could Schumer just appoint them?

I was wondering the same, but I haven't seen an answer yet.

PVW said:

I was wondering the same, but I haven't seen an answer yet.

Do you have a favorite running for her spot?

Morganna said:

PVW said:

I was wondering the same, but I haven't seen an answer yet.

Do you have a favorite running for her spot?

Not really -- I don't know any of the potential candidates in very great detail. None strike me as a potential Manchin or Sinema, though.

Re the article, here's a gift link: https://wapo.st/3L351o7

It implies, but never actually comes out and says, that there would still have to be a vote for the committee position even with a new senator, but that this would be an egregious violation of norms:

Blocking Feinstein’s temporary replacement could set a new precedent where committee assignments become objects of partisan warfare, which could negatively affect both parties’ ability to seat new senators on committees when a lawmaker resigns or is replaced. But some conservatives, including Tillis and Cornyn, argue that a “temporary” replacement is unprecedented, and so opposing this particular replacement is different from declaring all committee assignments fair game. Democrats are not asking for Feinstein to be replaced on her other committees, which makes the request more unusual, they added.

This is a pet peeve of mine -- a lot of political stories don't explain things like what the actual rules or procedures are. The framing is generally in terms of the political competition -- who's got an advantage, who's facing a setback -- and less on explaining how things work and what's actually happening. You can see examples in a lot of coverage around Ron DeSantis, for instance, where the framing is generally in terms of his presidential ambitions and how he's doing viz. Trump and less in the actual material impact on Floridians.

PVW said:

This is a pet peeve of mine -- a lot of political stories don't explain things like what the actual rules or procedures are. The framing is generally in terms of the political competition -- who's got an advantage, who's facing a setback -- and less on explaining how things work and what's actually happening. You can see examples in a lot of coverage around Ron DeSantis, for instance, where the framing is generally in terms of his presidential ambitions and how he's doing viz. Trump and less in the actual material impact on Floridians.

Anyway, all of which to say that it doesn't seem like there's any actual rules that would prevent Republicans from refusing to seat a new senator, but that would be a significant escalation from refusing to agree to a temporary replacement for an existing one.

Both Porter and Schiff are impressive in Congress. Fun to see Porter on Bill Maher last week. I actually thought Schiff would join the last Presidential Primary. He's got a good resume to fill that seat on the Judiciary Committee.

Schiff is a 62 year old guy.  Porter is a 47 year old woman.  Time to get younger and more varied viewpoints into the Senate.

PVW says: "this would be an egregious violation of norms"

And that would be an impediment to Senate R's???