Quick update on the United States Supreme Court: The good news is we still have one! The bad news is one of the nine members is still an empty chair. But the other good news is that the confirmation process is still moving forward! And the other bad news is that it may be moving forward directly toward a cliff.
As expected, the Democrats are doing their best to turn the process into a reality show, staging elaborate publicity events and photo-ops with nominee Merrick Garland and various Democratic members of Congress to prove that they know how to do government. It’s the political equivalent of those weight-loss photos where people hold up a copy of newspaper: “See? I’m real!”
So is that working? Weirdly enough … yeah, kind of.
It’s too early to say if this is actually a fluke or a trend or something in between, but a few Republicans have relented and are actually starting to meet with Garland next week. They’re all from the not-always-completely-crazy wing of the GOP: Susan Collins (Maine) and John Boozman (Arkansas), and also Ohio’s Mark Kirk.
Susan Collins called for a hearing last month, and Mark Kirk gets a lot of credit for being among the first congressional Republicans to support marriage equality — but he only did so after his son came out, doing the right thing only when it directly affected his life. So far, there’s no evidence to suggest that Merrick Garland is Mark Kirk’s son, so Garland has an uphill battle for winning the Senator’s support.
And the whole meeting might actually have just been a little stunt for Kirk to pander to his constituents. He’s up for re-election, and his Democratic rival is Tammy Duckworth — a popular Representative. So if I had to guess about Kirk’s motivations for meeting with the nominee, it’s probably just that he doesn’t want Duckworth to blame him in front of voters for stalling the nomination process.
That’s important because voters tend to support Garland’s nomination. A new Pew study shows that just under half of Americans want him confirmed, a third want him rejected, and a quarter just aren’t interested one way or the other.
Perhaps the White House can sway that disinterested quarter with a few celebrity cameos! Would it change your mind, for example, if the confirmation involved Taylor Swift?
Yes, really, Taylor Swift was just invoked by a senior Obama advisor. She’s not taking an active role in the process (that we know of!) but in describing various personal details about the nominee, advisor Brian Deese mentioned offhand, “I’ve now found out Judge Garland is also reasonably into Taylor Swift.”
Well, that’s about the most boring way you could have revealed that information, Brian, nice job. Here’s how you should have done it: stop arranging meetings between Merrick Garland and members of Congress, and start booking actual pop stars to meet with him. Tell the GOP that Taylor Swift is testifying in Congress right now, and when they all rush into the chamber for autographs, lock the door and refuse to let them out until they’ve confirmed SOMEONE.
This would either end with the Garland finally getting a yes or no vote, or possibly with Swift confirmed to the court. Either way it’s progress.