WASHINGTON _ Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine is joining those predicting his fellow Senate Democrats would force through changes to the chamber's rules to ensure confirmation of a potential Supreme Court pick next year.
The Virginia Democrat could make pivotal procedural decisions in such a "nuclear option" standoff after Jan. 20, since the vice president also serves as president of the Senate and has the option to preside.
The "nuclear option" describes efforts to change the Senate's rules with a simply majority of senators and bypass the customary procedure requiring a two-thirds vote to overcome filibuster threats.
In an interview with the Huffington Post on the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton in Ohio, Kaine offered up what he called a "prediction" about the what may play out if President Barack Obama's Supreme Court pick isn't considered during the post-election lame duck session.
"We will change the Senate rules to uphold the law, that the court will be nine members," Kaine said, pointing out that he will be serving in the Senate at least into January.
"I was in the Senate when the Republicans' stonewalling around appointments caused Senate Democratic majority to switch the vote threshold on appointments from 60 to 51. And we did it on everything but a Supreme Court justice," Kaine said. "If these guys think they're going to stonewall the filling of that vacancy or other vacancies, then a Democratic Senate majority will say, 'We're not going to let you thwart the law.'"
Retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., worked those procedural changes as majority leader back in 2013. And he has suggested that Democrats could be prepared to go further next year.
Sen. Charles E. Schumer, the New York Democrat in line to succeed Reid, has called a progressive majority on the Supreme Court his top goal, should his party gain control of the Senate in 2017.
But the Kaine prediction comes with some serious caveats. For one, the Clinton-Kaine ticket would need to win the White House. Second, Senate Democrats would need to win the seats needed to at least get to a 50-50 tie, at which point the vice president (likely Kaine, but potentially still Joseph R. Biden Jr., would be able to make the parliamentary rulings and break ties).
And the threats may not need to come to pass, either.
"I think there's still a significant likelihood that Merrick Garland will get a vote before the end of the year," Kaine said of President Barack Obama's nominee to fill the seat that was vacated in February by the death of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia.
Fissures appear to be emerging among GOP senators about what to do about the Garland nomination after the election, particularly if Clinton defeats Republican Donald Trump to keep the presidency in Democratic hands.
"The battle is: Do we want a lawfully constituted full court or will we let the Republicans have a hobbled, limited and weakened court?" Kaine said in the Huffington Post interview. "The voters are going to stop them, or we're going to stop them."
