Congress - Poor At Confirming Appointments Flashcards
How many of Obama’s judicial appointments were blocked? What were they all blocked by?
Who decided to change the voting rules? What option did they resort to and what did they change the rules to?
Before Obama’s judicial appointments how many filibusters on appointments had there been?
79 of Obama’s judicial appointments were blocked by Congressional filibusters.
Senate Majority leader Harry Reid used the ‘nuclear option’ to change the voting rules from a 3/5th majority to a simple majority to get the appointments confirmed.
Before this only 68 filibusters on judicial appointments had occurred in the USA’s entire history
Who filibustered Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court and what year did it occur?
Who was the nominee and how did the Senate leader react?
2017 – Democrats filibustered President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch.
First time in History that a Supreme Court Justice nomination had been filibustered. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell triggered a nuclear option requiring only a simple majority vote to confirm the Supreme Court nominee.
Who’s appointment of Attorney General under Obama took awhile? How long did it take? Why did it take awhile?
The appointment of Loretta Lynch as Attorney General under Obama took 167 days from nomination to confirmation due to political point-scoring due to point-scoring from a Republican dominated Senate. This is longer than the last 7 attorney generals combined.
Which of Obama’s Supreme Court appointment did Congress refuse to schedule to vote on?
Why did Congress refuse to schedule it?
- Congress refused to schedule a vote on Obama’s appointment to the Supreme Court Merrick Garland. Republican Mitch McConnell argued that the appointment was too close to the end of Obama’s time in office.
Why was the Republican Senate keen to schedule hearing of a Supreme Court nominee (who was it and specify days)?
Senate Republican’s willingness to schedule hearings for Amy Coney Barratt only 38 days away from election day.
