Recent confirmation battles leave Senate Democrats with procedural and political advantages that will allow them to quickly fill a Supreme Court vacancy left with the retirement of Justice Stephen G. Breyer — even though they hold the narrowest of majorities.
Republicans got rid of the Senate filibuster rules for Supreme Court nominees in 2017, which means Democrats don’t need any help from any Republicans now to confirm a pick from President Joe Biden. So while it used to take 60 votes to overcome a filibuster from the minority party before the confirmation process for Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, now it takes just 50 to do so.
No members of the Democratic caucus, 48 Democrats and two independents, have voted against any of Biden’s judicial nominees on the Senate floor. While Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have stood in the way of their party’s pushes on voting rights and economic stimulus legislation, the high court confirmation has its own political orbit.
