Does Garland nomination have 'a snowball's chance in hell'? Lawyer's suit fails; other ideas aired
Judge Merrick Garland.
A New Mexico lawyer seeking to force a confirmation vote on Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland lost his appeal on Wednesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
The appeals court summarily affirmed a decision that lawyer Steven Michel lacked standing to sue, the Huffington Post reports. Michel had asked a federal judge to instruct Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., that the Senate can’t ignore a Supreme Court nominee.
Michel had maintained he was injured by the diminution of the effectiveness of his votes for senators. Rather than being concrete and particularized, the appeals court said, Michel’s alleged injury is “wholy abstract and widely dispersed.” The judges on the panel were Karen LeCraft Henderson, David Tatel and Sri Srinivasan.
Garland, who is chief judge of the D.C. Circuit, has not been handling cases since his nomination. “With his chances all but vanished since Donald Trump got elected, Garland’s only hope is a wild constitutional miracle in his favor,” the Huffington Post reports, linking to a Washington Post article about two ideas for putting Garland on the Supreme Court. Both require action on Jan. 3, between sessions of Congress.
One way, the thinking goes, is for Obama to use a recess appointment to put Garland on the court.
The other way is to take advantage of the time between expiring terms in office for 34 senators and the swearing in of the next Congress. During that time, Democrats will have a 36-30 majority among the senators who remain in office.
The Daily Kos has more on the idea. It would require President Obama to renominate Garland, Vice President Joe Biden to recognize Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., Durbin to suspend filibuster rules using general parliamentary law, Durbin to call for a vote, and the Democratic majority to approve Garland.
Jim Manley, a former top aide to outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, told the Post that there isn’t a “snowball’s chance in hell” that Biden and Durbin would take part in such “shenanigans.”
