5 ms·

Can someone give a QRD on all of the political ramifications that will come from this? I've heard things about judges being harder to appoint, what else is ther

by alexb_ 3y ago

Can someone give a QRD on all of the political ramifications that will come from this? I've heard things about judges being harder to appoint, what else is there?

eropple 3y ago
The governor of California can turn around an interim appointment pretty quickly if he so chooses; there's some static around a prior promise to appoint a Black woman, which most people viewed as effectively a promise to Representative Barbara Lee. She has since declared candidacy for that Senate seat--as Feinstein was not going to run for re-election--and Newsom (understandably, IMO) doesn't want to hand the keys to a running candidate, out of fairness to the also-quite-reasonable alternate candidates. That said, I wouldn't expect it to prevent a pretty quick replacement if Senate business demands it, so it likely won't be a significant impact from a political or operational perspective.
- justin66 3y ago
  > doesn't want to hand the keys to a running candidate, out of fairness to the also-quite-reasonable alternate candidates Is that something he has actually said?
  - eropple 3y ago
    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/gavin-newsom-make-interim-appointment-dianne-feinstein-senate-rcna103933 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/gavin-newsom-... > “Yes. Interim appointment. I don’t want to get involved in the primary,” Newsom said. “It would be completely unfair to the Democrats that have worked their tail off. That primary is just a matter of months away. I don’t want to tip the balance of that.”
    - justin66 3y ago
      Holy moly. "I wouldn't want an interim appointment I make to be political" is a silly enough sentiment that it cannot possibly be sincere. He just didn't know what the right move was yet, in terms of how he would benefit.
      - eropple 3y ago
        Eh. It's a silly line, but you can read "political" as "not backing any of the current candidates" and it reads fine.
- bandyaboot 3y ago
  If I recall correctly, the Republicans can refuse to allow a replacement to be seated on the Judiciary committee…and they certainly will do that if they can.
  - eropple 3y ago
    Senate business can be conducted with the VP as tiebreaker as well, as I understand it? But I could be wrong.
    - alistairSH 3y ago
      I believe committee membership votes are currently subject to a supermajority, so filibuster rules apply. There won't be a new member seated to Judiciary without a Senate rules package. Sen. Manchin (D) likely won't allow that to happen. This means judicial nominations are effectively hamstrung for the time being.
      - eropple 3y ago
        Ah, I didn't realize that! Thank you.
  - justrealist 3y ago
    The Republicans can't block anything unless the democrats agree to allow it. Like yes there are a lot of self-imposed rules in the Senaate, but it's fundamentally on the Democrats that they can't pull together 51 votes to tweak the rules.
    - eropple 3y ago
      (edit: ignore, I misread the vacancies list)
      - justrealist 3y ago
        That's not true, there are 50 functionally-democrat senators. There were 51 with Feinstein.
- shmatt 3y ago
  Cue Senator Winfrey
- rjsw 3y ago
  Not my country but Barbara Lee is 77. Newsom could appoint her now and the Democrats look for someone younger for the long term.
Kaibeezy 3y ago
Not sure where to start with that, but her official bio at least provides some context of the roles she has filled - https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/biography https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/biography
dahfizz 3y ago
> Feinstein’s current term isn’t up until 2024, so should her seat become vacant before then, it would be up to Gov. Gavin Newsom, a fellow Democrat, to appoint a temporary replacement. Newsom, like most governors, would have no restrictions on whom he could appoint – other than the constitutional age, citizenship and residency requirements that apply to all senators. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/05/03/how-do-states-fill-vacancies-in-the-u-s-senate-it-depends-on-the-state/ https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/05/03/how-do-st...
wait_what 3y ago
[flagged]
- networkchad 3y ago
  > But, you know, [R]'s can't stand having a strong justice system where no one is above the law. Cute quip. Do you apply that sentiment towards the Biden family as well?
alistairSH 3y ago
Newsom can replace her fairly quickly, so it won't have major impact on critical Senate votes. But, her death leaves her committee seats open. Filling those seats will take time and where she was in a leadership position, that needs resolved. Committees often have a 1-vote edge to the majority party, so those committees may be effectively deadlocked until replacements are nominated/approved (this is almost exclusively a Senate task - so can the Democratic leadership in the Senate get new members into committees in a timely manner). Edit - typos
frob 3y ago
From everything I could tell, one of the reasons Sen Feinstein was sticking around was that the GOP had indicated it would not allow Senate Democrats to replace her on the Judiciary committee. This would deadlock the committee, effectively stalling all judicial appointments and confirmations. That was in the case of a retirement. This is a death and reappointment. I am unsure if the new Senator would assume Sen Feinstein's previous committee assignments, but all of my instincts around the Senate say no. So we are back in the position of relying on the GOP to allow the new Senator to fully serve and represent the 39 million citizens of California. If you know anything about the modern GOP and their despise for democracy, you know they will never let that happen. Sorry, California, the 39 million of you only get 1.3 senators for the next 15 months. The 576 thousand people of Wyoming will still get their full 2.
- jpadkins 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - slimginz 3y ago
    Literally not how things work. The last time states tried to secede a little thing called the Civil War happened and we determined that no, actually you can’t just leave the US whenever you feel like it.
    - jpadkins 3y ago
      There is nothing in the constitution that says states can't secede. Just because some people in the 1800s went to war over it doesn't mean people in 2100's have to kill each other. Peaceful secession is always an option.
- giarc 3y ago
  I can't remember where I heard this, but the reason that every state gets 2 senators goes back to the creation of the United States. If they didn't allow equal representation, why would any state join if they immediately started with less than equal rep? For example, why would a small state with a population 10x less than New York for example, join the US and accept 10x less senators. Caveat - I'm not American and have never taken a US history class. This is just something I heard on a podcast.

by alexb_ 3y ago

Can someone give a QRD on all of the political ramifications that will come from this? I've heard things about judges being harder to appoint, what else is there?

eropple 3y ago

The governor of California can turn around an interim appointment pretty quickly if he so chooses; there's some static around a prior promise to appoint a Black woman, which most people viewed as effectively a promise to Representative Barbara Lee. She has since declared candidacy for that Senate seat--as Feinstein was not going to run for re-election--and Newsom (understandably, IMO) doesn't want to hand the keys to a running candidate, out of fairness to the also-quite-reasonable alternate candidates. That said, I wouldn't expect it to prevent a pretty quick replacement if Senate business demands it, so it likely won't be a significant impact from a political or operational perspective.

justin66 3y ago
> doesn't want to hand the keys to a running candidate, out of fairness to the also-quite-reasonable alternate candidates Is that something he has actually said?
- eropple 3y ago
  https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/gavin-newsom-make-interim-appointment-dianne-feinstein-senate-rcna103933 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/gavin-newsom-... > “Yes. Interim appointment. I don’t want to get involved in the primary,” Newsom said. “It would be completely unfair to the Democrats that have worked their tail off. That primary is just a matter of months away. I don’t want to tip the balance of that.”
  - justin66 3y ago
    Holy moly. "I wouldn't want an interim appointment I make to be political" is a silly enough sentiment that it cannot possibly be sincere. He just didn't know what the right move was yet, in terms of how he would benefit.
    - eropple 3y ago
      Eh. It's a silly line, but you can read "political" as "not backing any of the current candidates" and it reads fine.
bandyaboot 3y ago
If I recall correctly, the Republicans can refuse to allow a replacement to be seated on the Judiciary committee…and they certainly will do that if they can.
- eropple 3y ago
  Senate business can be conducted with the VP as tiebreaker as well, as I understand it? But I could be wrong.
  - alistairSH 3y ago
    I believe committee membership votes are currently subject to a supermajority, so filibuster rules apply. There won't be a new member seated to Judiciary without a Senate rules package. Sen. Manchin (D) likely won't allow that to happen. This means judicial nominations are effectively hamstrung for the time being.
    - eropple 3y ago
      Ah, I didn't realize that! Thank you.
- justrealist 3y ago
  The Republicans can't block anything unless the democrats agree to allow it. Like yes there are a lot of self-imposed rules in the Senaate, but it's fundamentally on the Democrats that they can't pull together 51 votes to tweak the rules.
  - eropple 3y ago
    (edit: ignore, I misread the vacancies list)
    - justrealist 3y ago
      That's not true, there are 50 functionally-democrat senators. There were 51 with Feinstein.
shmatt 3y ago
Cue Senator Winfrey
rjsw 3y ago
Not my country but Barbara Lee is 77. Newsom could appoint her now and the Democrats look for someone younger for the long term.

Kaibeezy 3y ago

Not sure where to start with that, but her official bio at least provides some context of the roles she has filled - https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/biography https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/biography

dahfizz 3y ago

> Feinstein’s current term isn’t up until 2024, so should her seat become vacant before then, it would be up to Gov. Gavin Newsom, a fellow Democrat, to appoint a temporary replacement. Newsom, like most governors, would have no restrictions on whom he could appoint – other than the constitutional age, citizenship and residency requirements that apply to all senators. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/05/03/how-do-states-fill-vacancies-in-the-u-s-senate-it-depends-on-the-state/ https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/05/03/how-do-st...

wait_what 3y ago

[flagged]

networkchad 3y ago
> But, you know, [R]'s can't stand having a strong justice system where no one is above the law. Cute quip. Do you apply that sentiment towards the Biden family as well?

alistairSH 3y ago

Newsom can replace her fairly quickly, so it won't have major impact on critical Senate votes. But, her death leaves her committee seats open. Filling those seats will take time and where she was in a leadership position, that needs resolved. Committees often have a 1-vote edge to the majority party, so those committees may be effectively deadlocked until replacements are nominated/approved (this is almost exclusively a Senate task - so can the Democratic leadership in the Senate get new members into committees in a timely manner). Edit - typos

frob 3y ago

From everything I could tell, one of the reasons Sen Feinstein was sticking around was that the GOP had indicated it would not allow Senate Democrats to replace her on the Judiciary committee. This would deadlock the committee, effectively stalling all judicial appointments and confirmations. That was in the case of a retirement. This is a death and reappointment. I am unsure if the new Senator would assume Sen Feinstein's previous committee assignments, but all of my instincts around the Senate say no. So we are back in the position of relying on the GOP to allow the new Senator to fully serve and represent the 39 million citizens of California. If you know anything about the modern GOP and their despise for democracy, you know they will never let that happen. Sorry, California, the 39 million of you only get 1.3 senators for the next 15 months. The 576 thousand people of Wyoming will still get their full 2.

jpadkins 3y ago
[flagged]
- slimginz 3y ago
  Literally not how things work. The last time states tried to secede a little thing called the Civil War happened and we determined that no, actually you can’t just leave the US whenever you feel like it.
  - jpadkins 3y ago
    There is nothing in the constitution that says states can't secede. Just because some people in the 1800s went to war over it doesn't mean people in 2100's have to kill each other. Peaceful secession is always an option.
giarc 3y ago
I can't remember where I heard this, but the reason that every state gets 2 senators goes back to the creation of the United States. If they didn't allow equal representation, why would any state join if they immediately started with less than equal rep? For example, why would a small state with a population 10x less than New York for example, join the US and accept 10x less senators. Caveat - I'm not American and have never taken a US history class. This is just something I heard on a podcast.