Dems desperate to stop the new Supreme Court justice?
An end game on Supreme Court nominations
Discussion of the confirmation process for Justice Kennedy’s replacement has quickly focused on two pro-choice Republican female senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Both have an unusual degree of immunity against right-wing groups’ threats of primary challenges: Sen. Collins is probably the only kind of Republican Maine voters would send to Washington, and Sen. Murkowski won re-election as an independent after losing her primary to a conservative.
If all Democrats oppose a nominee and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is unable to vote or votes “no”, either one of them could doom a nomination; if Sen. McCain returns to support the nominee, the two together could decide the question.
Some other Republicans, such as retiring Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Jeff Flake of Arizona, also could conclude that questions about the president’s mandate, the role of a hostile foreign power in winning it, and their party’s refusal to consider the moderate President Obama nominated much earlier in an election year, should preclude allowing President Trump to so decisively reshape American law for decades to come.
http://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/395535-an-end-game-on-supreme-court-nominations