A "backroom deal" allegedly can stop President Joe Biden from replacing United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer through the "nuclear option."
The Daily Wire reported that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell can bring the matter to the floor for debate on a judicial nominee and then the senators would have to come out with at least 51 votes known as the "nuclear option." Vice President Kamala Harris would have to break the vote should a tie result.
"But the nuclear option can go into motion only if the Judiciary Committee reports the nomination to the floor, a procedural move that says whether a majority on the committee recommends the full Senate consider the pick. Well, in a little-noticed backroom deal that took more than a month to hammer out, McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to a power-sharing plan in February that splits committee membership, staffs and budgets in half," The Daily Wire quoted TIME in stating.
"If all 11 Republican members of the Judiciary Committee oppose Biden's pick and all 11 Democrats back her, the nomination goes inert. The nomination doesn't die, but it does get parked until a lawmaker-historically, the Leader of the party-brings it to the floor for four hours of debate. A majority of the Senate-51 votes, typically-can then put debate about the issue on the calendar for the next day. But that's the last easy part. When the potential pick comes to the floor again, it's not as a nomination. At that point, it's a motion to discharge, a cloture motion that requires 60 votes. In other words, 10 Republicans would have to resurrect the nomination of someone already blocked in the Judiciary Committee," TIME explained.
However, McConnell revealed to reporters on Wednesday that he still has to wait for the official announcement from Breyer on his retirement prior to making any actions on the matter.
The 83-year-old Breyer reportedly gave in to pressures from the Democratic Party to retire in the face of regaining influence and power in the Senate especially with the midterm elections coming this November. But reports afterward reveal a news leak took place that preempted Breyer's decision on his retirement, causing him to be "sad" about the matter.
WND pointed out that the Democrats intend to replace Breyer with "someone equally leftist, by a leftist president, to avoid the possibility that a GOP president after 2024 would replace him with a conservative."
Though Breyer have early on warned Democrats that such a move would only affect the credibility of the court. Though, Yahoo News raised that replacing Breyer won't have any effect for the Democratic Party considering the Supreme Court is a conservative majority at 6 to 3.
The Supreme Court's nine-member panel is often equally divided into three pactions when it comes to major decisions. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas are the most conservative, followed by Justices Amy Coney Barret, John Roberts, and Brett Kavanaugh who stand "in the middle." While Breyer stand on the liberal side with Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
On Thursday, Breyer finally confirmed news on his retirement when he sent a letter to President Joe Biden about it. Fox News Anchor Shannon Bream posted a copy of Breyer's letter in Twitter. Breyer stated that his decision would take effect in time for the court's "summer recess."
"Dear Mr. President, I am writing to tell you that I have decided to retire from regular active judicial service as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and to serve under the provisions of 28 U.S. C. 371 (b). I intend this decision to take effect when the Court rises for the summer recess this year (typically late June or early July) assuming that by then my successor has been nominated and confirmed," Breyer declared.
