Psssssssst A little birdie told me that Clarence Thomas

[malaise]

is seriously ill. I trust there will be no appointments in the Con's last year - over to you Moscow Mitch.

[FakeNoose]

1. Woah! this is big news if it's true

[malaise]

10. Well word is that he's suddenly found his Jebus again

which suggests that it may well be true.

The person who told me doesn't spread rumors.

[shanti]

2. Interesting

When I heard he wasn't in the current session, it made me a little worried. Now I'm more than a little worried, because Moscow Mitch would give his left nut to appoint another Supreme. And it would be a (very conservative) woman, imo.

[AJT]

6. Just hold on for 1.5 more years....

[Baitball Blogger]

9. I wonder how Mitch McConnell will spin this one. How do you

push through a conservative nominee right before an election after he threw all those road blocks to Merrick Garland?

[Garrett78]

11. Accusations of hypocrisy mean nothing to Republicans.

He'll claim that this is different because Trump is an incumbent or some other bullshit.

[malaise]

12. In case you didn't know this

ReTHUG is a synonym for hypocrite. :rodl:

[a kennedy]

20. This.....

+1000

[Volaris]

21. Because he doesn't give a fuck about his hypocrisy. He doesn't even care if were AWARE of what he's

[Mike 03]

3. ...

[Johnny2X2X]

4. Block this if at all possible.

I don't care what it takes, find a way to block a new appointment. Save it for the new President.

[AJT]

7. It's up to the Senate, so it won't be blocked.

[Johnny2X2X]

8. They need 60 votes

They can do majority 1 time a year.

And the House has some cards to play, they can hold up funding if its not blocked.

[StarfishSaver]

13. They can't hold up funding in the short term

[unblock]

14. i don't think so.

i believe the senate has just plain altered its rules to allow confirmation of supreme court justices by simple majority vote.

for budget matters, reconciliation, allowing simple majority vote, can be used only once for a specific purpose per fiscal year.
but that doesn't apply to any presidential appointment, such as supreme court nominees.

[regnaD kciN]

15. True -- all it takes is a simple majority now...

...thanks to McYurtle nuking the filibuster for SCOTUS confirmations over Gorsuch.

[BSdetect]

5. His legacy will be an indelible blank in our memories.

[MFM008]

22. Perfect.

Hes probably said one sentence since the 90s.

[Bayard]

16. There has to be a rule somewhere

That a president who is being impeached is not allowed to nominate a Supreme.

[malaise]

17. Excellent point

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

18. There isn't.

There is no stopping a SCOTUS appointment unless you can get enough GOP to defect and vote no.

[Mike 03]

19. If it's true that there's no way to block a new nominee

the liberal justices need to pull a Weekend at Bernie's, prop his body up in his chair, make him nod 'yes' and shake his head 'no' and write his opinions for him, and somehow keep this charade going for another year. Thomas never speaks, so nobody will be able to tell the difference.