Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Sunday night promised that Democrats will not “supply quorum” for the votes needed to advance the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, saying that the confirmation process was not legitimate.
He will tell Democrats not to attend the hearing for Amy Coney Barrett so they don’t have a quorum.
“Democrats will not supply the quorum” to Judiciary Committee for vote, Schumer remarked to reporters on Sunday, signaling that he might boycott a Senate Judiciary meeting on Thursday if Republicans do not have enough of their members present at the hearing to achieve a quorum needed under committee rules.
In the full Senate, a quorum is 51 members, and the quorum in the Judiciary panel is nine members, including two in the minority, or Democratic, party. If one or fewer Democrats show up for the Oct. 22 vote on Barrett’s confirmation, they could prevent the committee from sending the nomination to the Senate.
“We will talk about when the actual vote occurs in committee and on the floor. Democrats will not supply the quorum,” Schumer said, according to Fox News. “Period.”
However, there are a number of ways to bypass Schumer’s tactics, and the Senate can vote to discharge a resolution that would allow Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to call the nomination of Barrett for a full Senate vote. Because there are 53 Republicans who hold the majority, if all the Democrats boycott the final floor vote, they won’t stop Republicans from ultimately achieving a quorum.
It sounds like an empty threat and he will make his people look bad.
A Quorum
A quorum is the minimum number of people who must be present for the meeting to transact any business.
Traditionally it used to be one more than half of the possible membership but as organizations became bigger that became an unworkable number. For instance, if you had a sports club with 300 members, it meant you had to have 151 people at a meeting for it to be able to do anything. It is more common nowadays for a quorum to be a specific number.
JUDGE BARRETT’S STATEMENT
Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s opening statement emphasized family. She also put religious questions to rest in her statement.
“When I write an opinion resolving a case, I read every word from the perspective of the losing party,” she explains. “I ask myself how I would view the decision if one of my children were the party I was ruling against; Even though I would not like the result, would I understand that the decision was fairly reasoned and grounded in the law? That is the standard that I set for myself in every case, and it is the standard I will follow as long as I am a judge on any court.”
She later adds that Americans deserve a Supreme Court “that interprets our Constitution and laws as they are written.”
NEW — Amy Coney Barrett’s opening statement. Notable line: “The policy decisions and value judgments of government must be made by the political branches elected by and accountable to the People. The public should not expect courts to do so, and courts should not try.” pic.twitter.com/Uvuqlgn4km
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) October 11, 2020
Hearing live:
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