https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/filibusters-cloture/overview.htm
“The Senate adopted new precedents in the 2010s to allow a simple majority to end debate on nominations”
With a 53-47 split, and no filibuster on nominations, there’s no way to block it.
McConnell already blocked Trump’s ally from becoming the leader of the house. They voted yesterday, and the next senate majority leader is John Thune, who has criticized Trump for Jan 6 and for claiming the 2020 election was stolen. He was also against Trump’s tarrifs 6 years ago. Thankfully the senate doesn’t seem to be ending up under Trump’s control, and the checks and balances in our government might actually be working.
Some Senate Republicans are signaling that they won’t vote for him, and it wouldn’t surprise me all that much if 4 Rs defect to block his confirmation.
Of course, Trump can and will still force him through as a recess appointment (fitting, giving Gaetz’ track record on consent) which will secure him as AG at least until the midterms when the balance of power in the Senate will inevitably shift again.
My understanding is that there hasn’t been a technical Senate recess in a long time. I think there b has to be a 5 day gap or something, so one senator stays in DC, calls the Senate to order, then adjourns it. Something like that.
That’s true, but Trump’s team is already lobbying the incoming majority leader to call an intentional recess so he can ram through all the appointments he wants without any Senate oversight.
Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, but I wouldn’t bet money on the new majority leader standing up to Trump on day one, right after he was elected with a significant mandate and handed full control of the legislative branch to Republicans. More likely, Thune will fold to whatever Trump demands until the the political winds begin to shift and Republicans need to start playing defense for the midterms. At that point we might start to see the Senate push back on Trump’s agenda if his approval ratings have gotten are low enough and the Dems have gotten their act together enough to run some decent congressional campaigns.
The only way to stop the nomination is for a Republican sentator on the relevant committee to vote no, or for 4 Republican Senators to vote no if it leaves committee. What are the odds of that?
