<\/a>Republicans have clearly stated that they won\u2019t even hold a hearing on President Obama\u2019s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland. But that obstructionist stand should not prevent Senate Democrats from holding their own “rump” hearings. [Definition of rump, in case you’ve forgotten: “constituting<\/span> a<\/span> subsidiary<\/span> or<\/span> small<\/span> group<\/span> or<\/span> the<\/span> remnant<\/span> of<\/span> a<\/span> once<\/span> larger<\/span> organization”]\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019d love to see the Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee set up their own alternative, “rump” hearing. The Democratic Senators on the Judiciary Committee are: Patrick Leahy, D-VT, Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, Charles Schumer, D-NY, Dick Durbin, D-IL, Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, Amy Klobuchar, D-MI, Al Franken, D-MN, Christopher Coons, D-DE, Richard Blumenthal, D-CT. That’s an all-star lineup, many of whom would thrive on the attention they’d draw to themselves. Think Schumer, in particular.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if Senate rules ban them from holding an unauthorized meeting in the Judiciary\u2019s hearing room. But if such a prohibition exists, why couldn\u2019t Democrats simply rent a nice meeting room somewhere in DC and convene there, unofficially?\u00a0 It could be a very effective political move: They could show off Garland\u2019s credentials while taking the opportunity to shame the Republicans for not doing their job.<\/p>\n

They could also issue invitations to Republicans\u2014both on and off the Judiciary Committee. Some Republicans\u2014feeling vulnerable to November challenges because voters know that they\u2019re doing nothing productive\u2014have already said that they\u2019d \u201cmeet with\u201d Garland, even if they haven\u2019t gone as far as saying they\u2019d attend an official committee hearing. Maybe some of them would show up, too. What a public-relations coup that would be, eh?\u00a0 [I know, magical thinking.]<\/p>\n

Still, I would hope that, at minimum, C-SPAN would cover the \u201chearing,\u201d and it would be even better if some courageous mainstream media outlet would be there, too. At the very least, print media and alternative sources could be invited.<\/p>\n

How about it Democrats? Get creative. What have you got to lose, anyway?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Republicans have clearly stated that they won\u2019t even hold a hearing on President Obama\u2019s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland. But that obstructionist stand should<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2119,29,572,2451],"tags":[2521,2657,1511,647],"yoast_head":"\n