Dem
51
GOP
49
We did not actually believe that Senate Republicans would play nice, and allow the Democrats to (temporarily) replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) on the Senate Judiciary Committee. First, the Senate is not a particularly collegial place these days, and the Republican Conference includes the chamber's most aggressive practitioners of obnoxiousness (Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Rand Paul, etc.). Further, even if they were inclined to play nice, the Republicans' base would not be happy about anything that makes it easier for the Democrats to approve judges. After all, imagine if the Democrats allowed a temporary replacement for, say, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), which in turn made it easy to confirm a judge like Matthew Kacsmaryk. The Democratic base would be hopping mad.
Yesterday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) & Co. made it official and said they are not interested in helping the blue team. For example, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) announced: "I support having Sen. Feinstein come back as soon as she can. But this effort to confirm controversial and in many instances largely unqualified nominees, I don't think you can expect any Republican cooperation." It's rich that he can carp about unqualified nominees, particularly in the same month that the headlines are being dominated by Kacsmaryk. As a reminder, the Judge was rated "qualified" by the ABA when he was nominated to the bench, which means he barely cleared their bar (no pun intended), and that he was not "highly qualified."
Now, the ball is in Feinstein's court. Can she make it back to Washington soon, for at least part-time work? Or, is she willing to throw in the towel and allow a replacement to be appointed? If the answer to either of those questions is "yes," then the Democrats don't have a problem here. If the answer to both is "no," however, then Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is going to earn his paycheck as he figures out how to proceed. (Z)