Compliance » Republicans May Push “Nuclear Option” For Supreme Court Confirmations

Republicans May Push “Nuclear Option” For Supreme Court Confirmations

January 26, 2015

United States Capitol and the Senate Building, Washington DC USA

Republicans are considering a rule change that would allow Supreme Court nominees to be approved by the Senate by a simple majority vote, which would heavily favor a party that controlled both the White House and the Senate. Currently, three-fifths of the Senate, or 60 votes, are required to approve a life-long appointment to the nation’s highest court. The rule would expand the so-called “nuclear option” approved by Democrats in 2013, which cleared the way for President Barack Obama’s executive and judicial nominations to be approved over holds and protracted filibusters staged by Republicans. Given how strongly Republicans denounced that rule change maneuver, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told The Wall Street Journal, “It would be a massive flip-flop for Republicans to go from declaring Democrats’ rules change to be the devil’s work to endorsing it.”

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