[EL] Garland

[Mark Rush]

Hi all--

agreed re: Guy-Uriel's point about Garland.  He is probably not ideal for
the Dem base.  But, denying him will make the Senate GOP look even more
unreasonable--if that is possible.

On a related note, is there an easy source of info re; 2016 House Races? If
the Dems have their act together, they should be piling money into
challenges to GOP incumbents wherever possible.   This GOP nomination
process will wreak havoc.

cheers

On Wed, Mar 16, 2016 at 10:21 AM, Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu> wrote:

> Merrick Garland as Obama Compromise #SCOTUS Nominee, But Not (Only)
> Because of His Moderate Politics <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80915>
> Posted on March 16, 2016 7:16 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80915> by Rick
> Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>
> In the moments after Justice Scalia’s death, my first thoughts (as
> reflected in this blog post <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79915>) was
> that the President could well nominate Merrick Garland to fill Justice
> Scalia’s spot on the Court.  I wrote: “This is a highly polarized time, and
> strong conservatives will fight VERY hard to have Republicans block a
> liberal appointment to the Court. So the Obama administration faces
> something of a choice. Nominate a hard-core liberal who could be
> filibustered by a Republican Senate, or nominate someone more moderate
> (Judge Garland?) who could PERHAPS get confirmed if enough Republicans
> would be willing to go along.”
>
> Garland is indeed a moderate, someone who will not excite the Democratic
> base the way other nominations would.  But the same could be said for Sri
> Srinivasan, who seemed to have the inside track
> <https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/709918292102656000> for the
> nomination until moments before the Garland news leaked.  While Garland and
> Srinivasan may differ slightly on ideology, it is not enough to sway Obama
> to choose one over the other.
>
> So what explains Garland over Srinivasan? One possibility, as I suggested
> on Twitter last night, is that Srinivasan did not want to be nominated, to
> be the “pinata” with less than even odds of being confirmed.  He’d rather
> save himself for the next Democratic president.  That’s certainly one
> possibility.
>
> The other is that Garland was chosen because he is significantly older (63
> vs 49).  I have suggested (in the last chapter of Plutocrats United) that
> one way to compromise on SCOTUS nominees is an 18 year term limit.
>  Appointing someone who is 63 moves in that direction. It gives the
> President a win, but one which as a matter of probability and actuary
> tables won’t be on the Court as long.  It is a way for Obama to say that he
> could have reached for greater power over SCOTUS, but compromised.
>
> In short, Garland’s age, which may make some liberals oppose his
> nomination, may be precisely what is attractive to the President who
> actually wants to appoint someone to #SCOTUS, and not just put up the human
> pinata.
> [image: Share]
> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D80915&title=Merrick%20Garland%20as%20Obama%20Compromise%20%23SCOTUS%20Nominee%2C%20But%20Not%20%28Only%29%20Because%20of%20His%20Moderate%20Politics&description=>
> Posted in Supreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
>
> --
> Rick Hasen
> Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
> UC Irvine School of Law
> 401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
> Irvine, CA 92697-8000949.824.3072 - office949.824.0495 - faxrhasen at law.uci.eduhttp://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/http://electionlawblog.org
>
>
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>



-- 
Mark Rush
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