Late Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced a brilliant plan to stall Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court: he and other prominent Democrats say they are considering simply not showing up to vote on passing Barrett out of committee, denying Republicans the quorum needed to send Barrett’s nomination to the Senate floor.
Speaking to reporters Sunday, Schumer called Barrett’s nomination “illegitimate, dangerous, and unpopular” and, while acknowledging that it may not be possible to stop Barrett’s confirmation, suggested that Democrats will try to stall the process any way they can.
“We will talk about when the actual vote occurs in committee and on the floor, Democrats will not supply the quorum. Period,” Schumer said.
Without a quorum on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Barrett’s nomination could be hamstrung.
“A quorum is the minimum number of members present for a committee or the full Senate to conduct business and hold votes. The quorum in the full Senate is 51 members and the quorum of the Judiciary Committee is nine members including two in the minority party,” Fox News explains. “This means that if one or fewer Democrats show up to the planned Oct. 22 meeting where the Judiciary Committee plans to vote on the Barrett confirmation then they could prevent the committee from reporting the nomination to the Senate.”
The move may not work as expected. In fact, as Fox points out, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) could welcome Democrats’ decision to simply bow out of the confirmation process. He could then bring a resolution to the Senate floor requesting Barrett’s nomination be moved out of committee, regardless, sending Barrett’s nomination to an immediate floor vote.
That floor vote is likely to go the GOP’s way. Even if every last Democrat boycotts the final Barrett confirmation vote, Republicans still have 53 votes — two more than the simple majority needed to add Barrett to the Supreme Court.
Democrats have already promised to use “every tool in the toolbox” to stall the Barrett hearings, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) noted Sunday that Republicans are already anticipating “shenanigans,” even if they don’t have an exact idea of Democrats’ plans.
“The delay tactics of the Democrats aren’t going to work,” Cruz told “Meet the Press.” “I think we’re going to see, by the way, some more procedural games and shenanigans. I don’t know what they’re going to do, whether it’s try to boycott meetings or try to impeach the president.”
“I hope we don’t see Senate Democrats turning it into a political circus,” he added.
Monday morning, Democrats began not by boycotting the process but by claiming that the Supreme Court confirmation hearings should have been “postponed” in favor of further negotiations on a coronavirus relief bill, per Fox News. Democrats, of course, filibustered the Senate Republicans’ COVID-19 stimulus package weeks ago and the White House introduced a $1.8 trillion refined bill Monday morning.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is expected to refuse negotiations on the updated bill.