Wednesday’s news of a Supreme Court opening was a tremendous shock to Democrats. Now on day two, they skipped forward a few stages in the grief cycle past denial and anger and on towards bargaining. Two Republican votes are all that stand between Senate Democrats and a Trump pick but try as they might, they’re not finding any takers. Will acceptance ever come?
Welcome to Rabbit Hole, The Daily Beast’s members-only deep dive into the day’s biggest story. We’re taking a look at the odds for blocking a Trump Supreme Court pick, who’s spending big on it, and how we got here.
Options: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) used the “nuclear option”—reducing the vote threshold for moving forward on a nomination from 60 votes to a simple majority—in order to pave the way for the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the court in 2017. Adam Jentleson, a former deputy chief of staff for retired Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, tweets that “There's no procedural silver bullet” in Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) arsenal that can grind down a nomination. If Democrats have a prayer of halting a Trump pick, all 49 have to hang together and peel off two of their Republican colleagues.