Trump will get his SCOTUS nominee confirmed. What will the Dems do in response?

[frazzled]

20. Okay, since the New York Times doesn't satisfy you

Here are the details:

Once the president has made a choice, the nomination is referred to the United States Senate. Since the early 19th century, this has meant that the nomination will first be considered by a smaller group within the Senate, the Senate Judiciary Committee. ...

The Judiciary Committee currently has 22 members – 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats – and has a three-step process of its own.

First, it conducts an investigation into the nominee’s background. This process can take 30 to 45 days, but it’s easy to imagine it going a lot faster.

Second, the committee holds a public hearing, in which the nominee is questioned and may give testimony about everything from her judicial philosophy to her stand on abortion. ... Finally, the committee will report its recommendation to the full Senate as either favorable, negative, or no recommendation.

Once the public hearings have concluded, if the Democrats want to buy time, they can delay the committee vote for a week. But after that, it’s on to the main floor of the Senate.

Okay, in plain English, Trump's nomination will be sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Lindsay Graham heads. There are two more Republicans than Democrats on the committee, so if they stick together, the Republicans will always win. They conduct an investigation (which usually takes a long time, but of course they will do it quickly, saying the nominee was already vetted for another position). Then all the committee members get to question the nominee (this means Kamala Harris will get to eviscerate the nominee, which will be enjoyable but useless, since the Republicans have the vote). Then the committee votes to pass it on to the Senate (or not). They will. But the Democrats then will have one lousy week to delay it being sent to the Senate. After that, it's outta there.

So, it goes to the full Senate to debate:

Currently, the Senate is majority Republican, with 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two Independents, who both caucus with the Democrats.

While the Senate has historically followed rules so arcane and incomprehensible that otherwise reasonable writers freely refer to them as “insane,” they can now be changed by a simple majority vote, which simplifies matters for the majority party considerably.

If the motion that the nomination be considered is made during a special “executive” session of the Senate, then the motion itself is debatable and can be blocked by filibuster – that movie-ready delay tactic in which which a senator recites Shakespeare, Dr. Seuss or recipes for fried oysters until everyone gives up and goes home.

But closing debate on the motion so that the Senate could move on to a vote no longer requires a supermajority of 60 votes, just a bare 51-Senator majority. So filibustering is likely to be about as effective as a paper hammer.

After that, the Democrats can insist on a minimum of 30 hours of debate, and then, they will be out of options to delay or stop a confirmation vote.

Okay, this means that the debate starts. But since the ability to end the debate (called "cloture" ) takes only a simple majority of votes under current rules, the Republicans can stop it at any time. The Democrats could then demand 30 more hours of debate, but then it's over. On to the vote.

And we know what that means. Unless four Republicans deflect ... game over.

https://theconversation.com/can-trump-and-mcconnell-get-through-the-4-steps-to-seat-a-supreme-court-justice-in-just-6-weeks-146544