Latest in the Supreme Court Drama - Electoral Vote

Latest In The Supreme Court Drama

Latest in the Supreme Court Soap Opera

America's favorite chess game, the one where the winner's trophy is a seat on the Supreme Court, is in full swing. And so, nearly every day, there are new moves and countermoves.

On Sunday, it was the GOP's turn. Congress is in recess for a few weeks, at least unofficially. Officially, a few Republican senators have stayed behind to gavel the chamber into session for a few minutes, conduct no business, and then gavel out. This will stop the President from being able to ram Merrick Garland through as a recess appointment.

Also on Sunday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was on "State of the Union," and he declared that there would be no "lame duck" approval of Garland, regardless of who wins the election. This promise is not worth the paper it's written on—McConnell could easily find half a dozen plausible explanations for "changing his mind" in November. For example, "We waited for the American people to speak, and they have chosen a Democratic president, so we presume that they also want a center-left nominee. We shall proceed." McConnell's "promise" is, at the moment, entirely about stopping President Obama from threatening to withdraw the nomination pre-election if Garland's not voted upon promptly. Your move, Barack.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post has come up with a list of four plausible scenarios in which Garland does get his hearing and vote. They are:

• It becomes clear that independents are unhappy with the GOP's obstructionism, and that they plan to punish the party at the polls.
• Republicans meet with Garland and decide he's not so bad.
• Hillary Clinton is elected, and the GOP decides Garland is better than the sandal-wearing, granola-eating, Prius-driving, Sanders-loving leftist that she will probably nominate. As noted above, Mitch McConnell says this scenario is off the table, but don't believe him.
• Another vacancy opens up on the Court—for example, Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies or is forced to resign due to ill health—and Garland thus becomes a moderate replacing a liberal instead of a moderate replacing a conservative.

In any case, tune in next time for another exciting episode of "As the Court Turns."