Washington
And they realize what a long shot it is.
“Let’s be clear: Democrats have no way to hold up this confirmation or delay the process. Mitch McConnell can and will hold a vote on Trump’s pick,” Indivisible — a liberal advocacy group launched after Trump’s election — said on its website.
Flipping a moderate Republican is probably their only hope. And that only works if they can keep Democrats who represent red states that Trump won from breaking ranks.
Before Trump’s expected announcement tonight, Democrats launched a three-pronged approach to defeating his nominee: Frame the process around women’s health and the future of legalized abortion, mobilize the kind of nationwide protests that helped kill Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and focus their attention on five key senators whose votes will determine whether Trump’s pick is confirmed.
Unlike the nomination of Neil Gorsuch last year to replace the reliably conservative Antonin Scalia, Trump’s newest nominee will replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was a swing vote on many of the most divisive social issues, including the landmark abortion ruling Roe v. Wade.
That makes this confirmation “more consequential than Gorsuch,” said Jeb Barnes, a political science professor at the University of Southern California. “It’s not just who you appoint, but who you replace. We know everyone who is on Trump’s list is to the right of Kennedy, so it is going to edge the court right.”
Democrats are zeroing in on Trump’s repeated promises to only appoint justices who would overturn Roe.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, of California, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, has said that “the effect of this Supreme Court nomination on women’s rights can’t be understated.” In Twitter posts and essays, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has echoed those concerns.
Democrats are pouncing on Trump’s use of a list of 25 potential candidates drafted by the conservative Federalist Society, which vetted all the names to ensure that they were committed to a conservative ideology.
Prominent activist groups like Demand Justice, Indivisible, MoveOn and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee already are planning a week of protests at home-state offices of senators across the country after Trump announces his nominee.