If Clarence Thomas dies will McConnell try to keep Biden from confirming a replacement?

[yellowcanine]

My prediction is that he will and he will put pressure on Joe Manchin to go along with it.

[Kingofalldems]

1. That's a guarantee.

[Elessar Zappa]

2. He'll try.

He won’t be successful.

[SoonerPride]

4. He might be. Manchin will probably say it's too close to the midterms.

[FoxNewsSucks]

5. Beat me to it.

I was gonna say Moscow Mitch won't have to, he'll just have his lickspittle object. It worked so well on voting rights and BBB.

[lagomorph777]

7. We need to get to Manchin early.

Promise to outbid Mitch no matter what.

[DBoon]

20. perhaps a seized Russian oligarch's yacht will do it

[Hekate]

34. Way better than my idea of a Go-fund-me!

[lagomorph777]

40. I would think so!

...and program the nav system to sail away and never return.

[burrowowl]

48. He couldn't a afford to keep the boat afloat.

[LakeArenal]

3. Is that rhetorical question?

[Hoyt]

6. Biden and Senate will push it through.

[2naSalit]

8. I see that as a given.

Of course he would. The hope is that a few, like Murkowski, would vote for them instead.

[SoCalDavidS]

22. LOL!!!! nt

[50 Shades Of Blue]

9. Absofuckinglutely!

[onenote]

10. Put Lindsey in a bind by nominating Childs.

[yellowcanine]

13. Lindsey would "discover" a high school book report that disqualifies her.

[Mr.Bill]

11. If Thomas dies,

the hangover I get from that party will last several days.

[Lochloosa]

27. ....

[Buckeyeblue]

12. Of course

[Bev54]

14. I would hope that would motivate dems to come out in droves to elect more senators

to make Manchin and Sinema redundant. Don't forget 3 more years for Biden.

[Hekate]

15. Is Zelensky a Ukrainian hero?

[LastDemocratInSC]

23. A new take on and old theme.

It's a good one, too.

[getagrip_already]

16. If he could, he would stop the current nominee.....

And they are already pressuring Manchin to derail it. And he can.

If the Republicans on the judiciary committee all boycot the vote, the dems won't have a quorum and the vote can't be held.

Without it coming out of committee the full senate cannot debate and vote on it unless they pass a resolution allowing them to move to debate.

That will take Manchin support, which so far he has refused to do. He won't pass over standing rules without bipartisan support.

So he may not even get one.

[yonder]

38. +1. Thanks for that look under the hood.

[11 Bravo]

17. He's not the Majority Leader this time. Fuck him. With a rusty rake.

[WheelWalker]

35. With a chainsaw.

[frazzled]

18. I sincerely doubt he'll die anytime in the near (or even far) future

The lack of transparency on his condition leads me to think (conspiratorially) that he is simply hiding out ... in advance of learning that evidence of his wife’s role would be coming out soon.

I could be wrong, but why not jump on the wild theory bandwagon as long as the whole world seems to be doing that.

[Claustrum]

19. Last I check, he isn't the senate majority leader right now.

He has no legal way to prevent a vote as it's the decision of the senate majority leader. He can try to persuade people not to vote for the nominee but it's not like McTurtle isn't trying to get our current nominee not confirmed.

[maxsolomon]

21. If my Aunt had balls would she be my Uncle?

Idle speculation.

[DFW]

24. It might not fly this time.

McTurtle has pulled this rabbit out of the same hat by the same ears quite a few times. Murkowski and Romney, for example, might be tired of being led around on this same leash, especially when even a Biden replacement for Thomas wouldn't do more than bring the ideological balance of the Court back to where it was before Scalia died and Kennedy retired. The Trump triad is too young to die off (unless Kavanaugh's liver succumbs to abuse) soon, and Alito is probably too mean. There are death penalties yet to uphold, and Opus Dei directives yet to follow. We're stuck with them for a while.

If Biden gets to nominate a replacement for Thomas, Hawley, Cotton, Blackburn, Rubio and Cruz will be more than happy to perform the obligatory evil theatrics. McTurtle can relax and do a "who, me?" routine while his script is performed by the others.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

25. If he dies, an approved Jackson will be "sitting on the shelf"

She won't be a justice until Breyer retires. So, if some other justice dies before then, she's pre-approved to step in, right?

McConnell will try to keep Biden from confirming anyone, including Jackson. If he can sway Manchin or Sinema, he'll hold off confirming anyone until the next Republican president is sworn in. If only we had 50 Democratic senators.

[PortTack]

26. Turtle can try, he can pressure him, even if manchin were to agree to block, it won't matter

dems will more than likely pick up 1-2 senate seats in the midterms neutralizing manchin...or should I say neutering manchin!

[Carlitos Brigante]

28. Do turtles eat lettuce? nt

[IzzaNuDay]

29. Establishing a pattern that will soon backfire...

Schumer will be on high alert to prevent a blockage like that from happening again.

[Tumbulu]

30. Is Clarence Thomas still in the hospital?

I cannot find info anywhere about if he has been released to recover at home.

[jalan48]

39. Looks like he's hiding out. If he's in the hospital no one can question him.

[FrankBooth]

31. As Gramps used to say...

Does a wooden horse have a hickory dick?

[peacebuzzard]

32. yes he will

that is what he does, that sad man is certain to do so.

[Hortensis]

33. :) And putting the casket before the hearse comes to mind.

Knock wood, but failing his extremely belatedly dropping dead (if my wishes were horses, he'd have been trampled to jelly long ago), I'm wistfully imagining a decline in health leading to retirement before much longer. I wouldn't mind him having to leave this close to realizing his mean, unworthy ambitions.

[d_r]

36. Does this bear

wear a funny hat?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

37. Probably

[gldstwmn]

41. Clarence is going to have to retire to spend more time with his family.

Who had that on their bingo card for 2022? They should have known there would be divine karma for replacing RBG with a handmaid.

[helpisontheway]

42. And Manchin will go along with it. He will say that it is the wrong thing to do

He will say just because McConnell did it does not mean Dems should. Unlikely that will he would support a nomination that flips a seat from Republican.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

43. Yes and the republicans will block any nominee biden has chosen

they want absolute control of all branches of govt. Since they see it as a war, maybe we should start looking at it like a war too.

[Samrob]

44. No guarantee McConnell will be around to stop anything.

Just sayin'

[Retrograde]

45. Will the sun rise in the east tomorrow morning?

Will the next pope be a Catholic? Are the woods full of bear scat?

Yertle has no shame or values. And I blame the voters of Kentucky for keeping him in power.

[moondust]

46. You mean like

hide the body in his basement for two years until it's "too close to an election"?

Of course he would.

[ecstatic]

47. He can TRY but if he were to succeed,

even with the ridiculous SCOTUS carve out, I'm done. There's no way we're that weak. No way.