Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) may be retiring at the end of his term, but he appears to have a plan to keep things interesting on his way out the door — at least as far as judicial nominations are concerned.
According to a report published Wednesday by Politico, Manchin has announced a plan to stage his own personal “filibuster,” refusing to vote in favor of any of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees if they don’t also have Republican support. And it doesn’t have to be a lot of support, Manchin said, adding that he would be willing to consider a “yea” vote if just one Republican were convinced to vote with Democrats.
“Just one Republican. That’s all I’m asking for. Give me something bipartisan. This is my own little filibuster. If they can’t get one Republican, I vote for none. I’ve told [Democrats] that. I said, ‘I’m sick and tired of it, I can’t take it anymore,'” Manchin explained.
The West Virginia Democrat said that what he really wanted was to see more bipartisan cooperation, and for that reason, he was simply asking his colleagues to put in the effort and court Republican votes.
“If they don’t have a Republican, I’m opposing. That’s my way of saying: ‘I’m leaving this place, I’ve tried everything I can. Don’t tell me you can’t get one.’ If you’ve got a decent person you can at least get one. Just go ask Lisa [Murkowski, R-AK], go ask Susan [Collins, R-ME], even Lindsey [Graham, R-SC],” Manchin continued. “Lisa and Susan both are not controlled by just voting party line, I know that. But you’ve got to ask them.”
Manchin’s mention of the filibuster – which then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) abandoned for judicial nominees in 2013 — was an apparent reference to the fact that his own party has been pushing efforts to remove the legislative filibuster altogether.
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Toward that end, Manchin told Politico that he’s doing his best to ensure that the legislative filibuster doesn’t face the same fate as the judicial filibuster. He explained that he has been encouraging donors to ask potential candidates whether they would support efforts to keep the filibuster in place.