Senate Judiciary Democrat says he'll meet with Trump's SCOTUS pick

[Polybius]

Source: CNN

Sen. Dick Durbin, the Democratic whip and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told CNN's Michael Smerconish that he plans to meet with and attend the confirmation hearing for President Trump's Supreme Court pick.

Several Democrats told CNN this week they won’t bother meeting with the nominee now over their concerns with the expedited process in the Senate.

Durbin told Smerconish, "I can only speak for myself," and noted that he's spoken to every past nominee to the high court because he thinks it is "not only respectful, but it's important."

"I plan on establishing some sort of contact, safe contact for both the nominee, myself and my staff in a courtesy manner," Durbin said, adding that he also plans on attending the nominee's hearing.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/us-election-news-09-26-20/h_8413a83836e102391893bf29ed960654

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Dems need to find a way to answer Mitch's Garland power grab

Looks like expanding the Court in subsequent years is the only method.

[William Seger]

4. ... and when rightwingers bitch about it, laugh in their faces

[tavernier]

24. And tell them to talk to the hand.

[rzemanfl]

2. Courtesy is so 20th Century FFS. n/t

[jalan48]

3. By all means, maintain the veneer of normalcy.

[George II]

5. Good idea. At least one should meet with the nominee. Then he can privately relay...

...how the meeting went so they'll all get an idea of what's in store.

We've got a really tough lineup on that committee - I'm looking for and hoping for fireworks during the hearing:

Ranking Member Senator Dianne Feinstein D-CA

Senator Patrick Leahy D-VT
Senator Dick Durbin D-IL
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse D-RI
Senator Amy Klobuchar D-MN
Senator Christopher A. Coon sD-DE
Senator Richard Blumenthal D-CT
Senator Mazie Hirono D-HI
Senator Cory Booker D-NJ
Senator Kamala Harris D-CA

She'd better eat her Wheaties that.

[Karma13612]

21. IOW, the dreamteam minus Liz! Sounds great nt

[turbinetree]

6. The only way to stop this in its tracks is for the house to declare and criminal investigation

against Barr or Trump and that they will file articles of Impeachment ............... #Moscow Mitch is then forced to stop activities in the Senate ................

[Polybius]

10. Someone said Mitch can still set hearings

No idea if that poster was correct or not, I'm no expert.

[turbinetree]

12. Lawrence O'Donnell said that the only way to stop this is for the House to bring the

Articles of Impeachment to the Senate against Barr and Trump or any other cabinet or judicial appointment...............

[AZ8theist]

26. Moscow Mitch sets the agenda. He DOES NOT have to drop everything for impeachment.

[turbinetree]

27. I believe that the senate must accept the House Managers articles and they do have to stop

https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/1868-impeachment-rules.pdf

[AZ8theist]

28. Look at Section III.

It says to take up the impeachment...

"unless otherwise ordered by the Senate"

[dem4decades]

13. That might lose the Presidential election and the Senate, is it worth the risk?

[turbinetree]

20. Is it not worth the risk?

[kairos12]

7. Make me wretch. Normalize a power grab. The image of Durbin meeting with Coney Handmaiden

will be all over Trump Ads. Wake the fuck up.

Durbin can run from the meeting with an agenda yelling "we have peace in our time."

[Fiendish Thingy]

8. This is why I say to hell with seniority in selecting the next majority leader

Durbin is next in seniority after Schumer.

We need to pick the best leader (like Warren) to ensure Biden’s agenda is enacted, rammed through if need be, not reaching across the aisle to unreasonable fascists.

[karynnj]

15. Seniority is years in the Senate - and Durbin has more. He started in 1997 vs 1999 for Schumer

Party leadership is not based on seniority.

I also suspect that Schumer is likely to continue as minority leader and become majority leader. Durbin has been the whip for years and is extremely good at that. I would have preferred him - over Schumer as leader - as he is among the most liberal Senators we have. As to being in sync with Biden, I suspect that Durbin might be closer than either Warren or Schumer.

As to meeting with the nominee -- it is better to do that and then argue why she is too extreme and should not be put on the court than to refuse to meet with her. All Democrats refusing to meet with her would not slow down the time line for her confirmation. It might actually speed it up. It would feed the obvious Republican narrative that Democrats did not give her a fair chance and were anti -Catholic. Though Dick Durbin's values are closer to the Catholic beliefs of most of country.

[Karma13612]

22. Exactly.

We don’t want to give them the opportunity to say we never even talked with her. Remember how they steam rolled thru the impeachment process. They wouldn’t call witnesses, etc. So, we need to provide the aura of doing the right thing. Following the process.

They are the hypocritical b@$tards, not us.

[George II]

16. What makes Warren "the best leader"?

[stillcool]

9. what would he gain by not doing his job?

don't know about the 'several' un-named Democrats, but not meeting with the nominee does nothing to stop the process. I wish I knew what everybody else does.

[elleng]

14. Right

[Tommymac]

11. He needs to wear a Planned Parenthood Tie to the meeting

Otherwise I have nothing to say about this.

[ismnotwasm]

17. The time to do something about the Supreme Court was in 2016

It’s heartbreaking

[DallasNE]

18. Why Would He Say That Now,

Even before the person has been named. What did Trump promise him? Did Republicans meet with Judge Garland? The timing is awful. Schumer must be fuming.

[Karma13612]

23. I doubt Trump promised him anything.

Durbin is showing professional, Senatorial behavior.

Taking a meeting with the nominee doesn’t say he supports her. It shows he will listen unlike what the Repukes did in 2016 for Merritt Garland.

This is going high when they go low. But, it doesn’t cost us anything and Senator Durbin can get good information so he has a REASON to vote against her nomination when the time comes.

She is going to get grilled.

I hope the hearings are televised.

[ancianita]

19. Durbin is as nice as they come.

And smart enough that he can get intel out of Barret that could be usable for forcing future recusals and even future impeachment.

[old guy]

25. Dems should do their jobs as they see them,

but the ship has sailed and she is already a life time member of the court. We will all have to get used to it.