但紅紅象共和黨人目前仍不置可否
因為共和黨正在權衡11月3日之前或之後舉行遞任大法官投票之風險利弊得失
當然這篇可能很多人點進來之後就會瞬間點出去
因為很多對你們而言是火星文的東西在轟炸你們視覺感官
但我還是想說這是這幾天美國政壇最火熱的大事
因為有時歷史就是就這麼巧妙，就在即將總統大選前竟然就這麼一位大法官辭世而非辭職
我大川皇當然絕對不會放過如此大好機會，因全世界能提名新任美國大法官的人就祇有他
但因為關係到很多政治政黨利益生態，因此整個共和黨都必須審慎評估提名及表決時間
特別是又不是祇有總統要競選連任而已，很多州長及參眾議員也必須拼政治職涯能否延續
我現在是有種感覺，美國聯邦其實有點像中國周朝
而美國總統就如同周天子，再來各州州長就是各諸侯國國王
然後參眾議員就是士大夫，這樣觀察其實會更加相對有趣
當聯邦強勢時就會如同西周，周天子確為天下盟主
當聯邦弱勢時就會如同東周，周天子式微
諸侯國國王有號召能力者登高一呼成為盟主進而掌握話語權呼風喚雨
比如春秋五霸、戰國七雄，因為五霸七雄細目有各種說法，就不細究
而美國和周朝政治生態有所不同的一點在於，士大夫也有機會成為盟主，但通常是士
POLITICO
https://tinyurl.com/y5v79wz2
CONGRESS
Republicans noncommittal as Trump pushes for pre-election Supreme Court vote
The GOP is weighing the risks of holding a confirmation vote before or after
Nov. 3.
By ANDREW DESIDERIO, BURGESS EVERETT and MARIANNE LEVINE
09/21/2020 07:24 PM EDT
President Donald Trump is pushing for the Senate to confirm his Supreme Court
nominee before Election Day — but Senate Republican leaders are noncommittal.
After holding their first leadership meeting since the Friday death of former
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, GOP leaders indicated the party has not reached
consensus on the timing for filling the vacancy. The full 53-member GOP
conference meets on Tuesday afternoon.
And in interviews with more than a dozen Republican senators on Monday, just a
few expressed a direct preference to jam through a nominee to replace Ginsburg
before Nov. 3. Most viewed a pre-election confirmation as exceedingly difficult
while a vote in the lame-duck session would give them more time.
“We know that some confirmations have occurred in a relatively short period of
time,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a close ally of Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell, said as he emerged from a GOP leadership meeting. “But they’
re probably during times of maximum cooperation. I don’t think there’s going
to be maximum cooperation.”
“It would be the new recent world record” if the Senate confirmed Trump’s
yet-to-be-announced nominee before Nov. 3, added Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a
member of the GOP’s leadership team. Indeed, Senate Majority Whip John Thune (
R-S.D.) confirmed on Monday that a decision hasn’t yet been made, noting that
GOP senators will meet in-person on Tuesday to discuss a path forward.
But each scenario — confirming Ginsburg’s replacement before the election or
in the lame-duck session — carries serious political risks for McConnell and
Republicans, who are already at risk of losing their majority in the November
election. Voting before the election could electrify liberals — but voting
after, particularly if Trump loses, would be a decision of historic controversy
that could lead to questions of legitimacy for whoever is seated on the high
court.
Still, McConnell reiterated his vow on Monday that the chamber will vote “this
year” on Trump’s yet-to-be-named nominee, but he was not specific on exact
timing.
“We’re going to keep our word once again,” McConnell declared. “We’re
going to vote on this nomination on the floor.”
It comes as several hard-line conservatives and Trump allies, including Sen.
Ted Cruz (R-Texas), are pushing Senate GOP leaders to hold a confirmation vote
before Election Day. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) similarly said on Monday that “
we ought to do it as soon as possible” and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said
it should happen “expeditiously.”
McConnell has already locked down support among key Republicans to hold the
confirmation this year, including the cadre of GOP institutionalists and those
facing uphill reelection fights.
Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), one of the most vulnerable incumbents, became the
latest on Monday to back McConnell, writing in a statement: “I have and will
continue to support judicial nominees who will protect our Constitution, not
legislate from the bench, and uphold the law. Should a qualified nominee who
meets this criteria be put forward, I will vote to confirm.”
Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) oppose moving
forward with a nomination, meaning that McConnell can only afford to lose one
more Republican in the 53-47 GOP-majority Senate. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) has
yet to reveal his position, as Democrats remain united that Ginsburg’s
replacement should not be considered until next year.
“We’ll find out at lunch tomorrow what the plan is, but I think what’s in
play here is to have one set of rules that we consistently follow,” Collins,
who faced backlash for backing Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation in 2018
and who is trailing in polls in Maine, said on Monday. “In this case we’re
talking about 40 days before the election. So I believe we should wait and see
who the winner of the election is.”
An average Supreme Court confirmation process takes more than two months, and
the election is 43 days away. And even if the full Senate or just the Judiciary
Committee remained in session through October, it would deprive some of
McConnell’s vulnerable incumbents of the opportunity to campaign in their home
states in the final stretch.
“I think it should take as long as it takes, and at the same time I don’t
think we should drag it out,” Blunt said. “I don’t think we should have a
barrier here that gets in the way of people feeling like this took as long as
it needed to take.”
Cornyn posited that “whether it happens before or after the election is not
the most important point.”
“It’s sort of like a vaccine. I’m for doing a vaccine when it’s safe and
effective. But I’m not for accelerating the process just to [accelerate it]. I
’d want to make sure we do it right and it’s a pretty big step,” he said.
Other GOP senators have raised concerns about entering Election Day with eight
justices on the high court, noting that the 2000 presidential election was
decided at the Supreme Court.
But waiting until after the election could protect vulnerable incumbents while
using the forthcoming vote to turn out the conservative base on Nov. 3. If the
vote is after the election, though, McConnell could have a slightly slimmer
majority if Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) loses to her Democratic challenger,
Mark Kelly. In that scenario, Kelly could be sworn in later in November instead
of January because the race is a special election.
“It gets too complicated after that with the variable in Arizona, and I think
if the shoe were on the other foot there would be a quick process to get the
thing done,” said Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.).
Republicans dismissed concerns about confirming a nominee in the lame-duck
period, though, if Trump loses reelection or Democrats win control of the
Senate.
“A lot of presidents have lost and had judges confirmed during the lame duck,
” Blunt said.
Regardless of when the confirmation vote occurs, McConnell said Monday that the
Senate “has more than sufficient time to process the nomination,” citing the
late Justice John Paul Stevens’ confirmation process, which took just 19 days
, and Ginsburg’s, which lasted 42 days.
Trump said Monday he wants to unveil a nominee, who he says will be a woman, at
the end of the week after Ginsburg is laid to rest. The president has floated
several names, including Amy Coney Barrett and Barbara Lagoa, both of whom
serve on the federal bench.
McConnell and Senate Republicans spent most of the day Monday rebutting charges
of hypocrisy, given that they held up President Barack Obama’s nominee to
fill Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat eight months before the 2016 election but
are moving forward with Trump’s nominee less than six weeks before the 2020
election. Republicans say it’s different now because the GOP holds both the
White House and the Senate, unlike in 2016 when Republicans controlled the
Senate and Obama was in the White House.
“The American people are about to witness an astonishing parade of
misrepresentations about the past, misstatements about the present, and more
threats against our institutions,” McConnell said.
Meanwhile, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is appealing directly to
Republicans who might still be undecided, pleading with them to follow their “
conscience.” As the minority party in the Senate, Democrats have few, if any,
procedural tactics at their disposal to delay or stop a Supreme Court
nomination. And Biden has little sway over current Senate Republicans, most of
whom did not serve with him in the chamber.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said McConnell is taking an “
utterly craven” position and undertaking “an exercise is raw political power.
”
Schumer said if McConnell moves forward, the Senate will never be the same and
over the weekend threatened payback.
“Tell me how this would not spell the end of this supposedly great
deliberative body,” he added. “Because I don’t see how.”
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