civilservant

On the assumption that McConnell refuses to grant a hearing to someone (and therefore the nomination is still technically pending before the Senate) that is the way I read it too, yes.

Oakvillian

Ah. I just added a chunk to my previous post, but didn't see that you'd already replied. To avoid awkard discontinuities, here it is again, and I'll delete my edit to previous post...

I've just read a little more on this. The Board of Governors has been dysfunctional for a decade, with successive Senates failing to confirm nominees to the point the board lost its quorum and the USPS was governed by a "Temporary Emergency Committee" for a number of years in the 2010s. Board members are supposed to serve seven-year terms, and no more than five may belong to the same political party. In the last two years, more vacancies have been caused to to resignation on principle than by being termed-out. The whole thing is a complete mess, due in no small part to the intransigence of Senate committees of both political stripes when they happen to be of the opposite party to the president. What a state the US is in.

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Steerpike

So then it comes down to, are there differences (practically) between an acting head vs a confirmed head. I guess job security and willingness to take the post would be one such consideration. Now, if the Republicans know that the Dems can appoint an acting head without confirmation, it would seem - maybe - that the republicans might be better served to actually confirm a 'moderate' candidate rather than stonewalling an 'extreme' candidate who could sit as 'acting' for 4 years?

I'm laboring this particular issue because it does seem like it may be relevant to the next 4 years!

civilservant

https://time.com/5566733/trump-actin...erns-scholars/

Seems like a relevant article on the subject.

Steerpike

Thanks! Interesting. Very interesting. I'm learning more than I expected about how our government works!

Steerpike

So in Georgia, are both senate seats likely go to the Republicans?

Lion in Winter

At the moment, they both look headed for a runoff in January. It's a Georgia thing. If no candidate has at least 50% of the vote, then a runoff between the two top candidates is required.

civilservant

Both seats are likely to remain Republican after the run off.

lansbury

Seems like the people who count have called it for Biden. The Secret Service has stepped up his protection detail.

dave_j

I suspect that there are credible threats arising from disgruntled gun toting patriotic lunatics wanting to rid the country of the election stealing commie anti-christ.

scrubbedexpat091

FAA has restricted the airspace above his house as well as the arena where his planned accepted speech would take place.

dakota44

Could be, but would not bank on it. Biden winning Georgia will bring out Dem voters for the runoffs.

retzie

Continuing with extreme class:

From the Guardian "It’s also worth noting it appears that half of the money raised for the lawsuits will actually go toward paying down the Trump campaign’s debt".

zzrmark

Quite possibly, however it has been well documented that Obama did not court senators in a manner that helped him. Biden, on the other hand, is reputed to have the biggest 'black' book on the hill. He knows that it's all about give and take, Obama, bless him, was more of a 'my way or the highway' type which just wound up the opposition. McConnell also knows how to play the game which hopefully means we won't hit deadlock in the first month.


As for sitting for four years on a future SCOTUS pick, you'd have to be fairly stubborn and prepare to throw away any senate majority you had in the mid-terms to play that game. It'd turn the mid terms into a single issue election. What did people have in mind, a bullet between Kavanaugh's eyes?

dakota44

Hmmm, if Trump and his corrupt offspring are so caught up in trying to cast doubt on the election results.....Maybe the orange blob will forget to hand out pardons to the family et al, and we can look forward to federal criminal charges for the lot of them.