Editor’s Note: The original version of this story incorrectly stated that Republicans could use Senate rules to block a Biden Supreme Court nomination. It was based on the author’s incorrect analysis of a May 13, 2021, Congressional Research Service report. The Senate will require a majority of votes to approve Justice Stephen Breyer’s replacement, not 60 votes.

But the nuclear option can go into motion only if the Judiciary Committee reports the nomination to the floor, a procedural move that says whether a majority on the committee recommends the full Senate consider the pick. Well, in a little-noticed backroom deal that took more than a month to hammer out, McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to a power-sharing plan in February that splits committee membership, staffs and budgets in half. (A full nonpartisan analysis from the Congressional Research Service regarding the current process for nominees is here.)

Why does this matter? If all 11 Republican members of the Judiciary Committee oppose Biden’s pick and all 11 Democrats back her, the nomination goes inert. (A pretty safe bet in a committee where at least half of the Republican members have White House ambitions of their own.) The nomination doesn’t die, but it does get parked until a lawmaker—historically, the Leader of the party—brings it to the floor for four hours of debate.

A majority of the Senate—51 votes, typically—can then put debate about the issue on the calendar for the next day. But that’s the last easy part. When the potential pick comes to the floor again, it’s not as a nomination. At that point, it’s a motion to discharge, a cloture motion that requires 60 votes. In other words, 10 Republicans would have to resurrect the nomination of someone already blocked in the Judiciary Committee.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is "inclined to say yes" as to whether Justice Stephen Breyer should retire from the Supreme Court in the coming weeks so President Joe Biden can nominate a liberal jurist to replace him.

"You know, it's something I think about, but I would probably lean towards yes," Ocasio-Cortez told CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union" Sunday when asked if Breyer should retire at the end of this Supreme Court term. "I would give more thought to it, but I'm inclined to say yes."

Ocasio-Cortez joins at least one other House Democrat who has publicly signaled that they want Breyer to retire so that Biden, with the help of a slim Democratic majority in the Senate, can replace the 82-year-old liberal justice with a younger member.

Breyer has previously declined to talk about his retirement prospects. In a speech earlier this year, he warned against proposals to expand the size of the Supreme Court from its current nine members.

Michael Bloomber on Marijuana: Legalizing "Another Addictive Narcotic" is Perhaps "Stupidest Thing Anybody has Ever Done.

Speaking at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, on Tuesday, Bloomberg said on the subject, according to WBNG-TV:
"We have a different kind of problem in America, for example. Last year, in 2017, 72,000 Americans [overdosed] on drugs. In 2018, more people than that are OD-ing on drugs, have OD'd on drugs. And today, incidentally, we are trying to legalize another addictive narcotic, which is perhaps the stupidest thing anybody has ever done. We've got to fight that, and that's another thing that Bloomberg Philanthropies will work on it in public health."

The position from the billionaire politician would seem to be out of step with Democratic leaders in his state and liberal voters nationwide. Newly re-elected New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, for instance, said he would make legalization a priority in a December speech outlining the goals for his first 100 days of his new term.

Recent polls meanwhile have shown a comfortable majority of Americans support legalizing the recreational use of marijuana. A Gallup poll released in October found that 66 percent of Americans support legalizing the drug, including three-in-four Democrats.

"Like support for gay marriage—and in prior years, interracial marriage—support for marijuana legalization has generally only expanded, even if slowly, over the course of multiple decades—raising the question of where the ceiling in support might be," the Gallup poll noted. "As the percentage of Americans who favor legalizing pot has continued to grow, so has the number of states that have taken up legislation to allow residents to use the substance recreationally."