What Good Will Trump SCOTUS Nominees Be if There’s No GOP Senate to Confirm Them?

Many conservatives have made the argument that it is better on balance to vote for Donald Trump if for no other reason than that he has promised to nominate conservative jurists to the Supreme Court. With the death of Antonin Scalia in February — along with the likely impending resignations of one or two of the Court’s older justices — the next president will, at the very least, be able to nominate one justice.

If Hillary Clinton is elected, the Court will be lost to liberals for the next generation, or so the argument goes. The Trump campaign, capitalizing on conservative voters’ fears of an overwhelmingly liberal Court, went so far as to draft a list of potential nominees for the open spot, and Trump has stated that he will draw only from this list when making his selection(s).

This is all well and good, as long as one believes, first, that Trump will be true to his word and, second, that Trump’s other weaknesses as a national leader would not be so damaging as to render a conservative Court (or, more likely, an evenly split Court) an insufficient reason to vote for him, as my colleague Ian Tuttle has argued would be the case. Aside from these points, though, is the fact that a President Trump needs a Republican Senate to confirm his nominee. Trump’s recent pronouncements on down-ballot races, though, suggest he’s not too concerned about ensuring that he has the necessary support to get his nominee through the Senate. In fact, Trump has begun to speak out strongly against any Republican congressional candidates who have opposed him, especially those who recently withdrew their reluctant support in the wake of the lewd video released last Friday.

A few examples of Trump’s recent tweets expressing this sentiment and, in particular, his ire against House Speaker Paul Ryan (who has not formally withdrawn his endorsement of Trump):

Meanwhile, Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson has approvingly claimed on Twitter in recent days that innumerable Trump supporters will refuse to support down-ballot Republicans who have renounced the Republican nominee:

Aside from revealing instability and an extreme lack of discipline, the Trump campaign’s new tactic effectively punctures the hopes of conservatives who are voting for him because of the Supreme Court. If Republican senatorial candidates lose and Democrats take over as the majority party in the Senate, who is going to confirm Trump’s conservative Supreme Court picks? Without a loyal Republican Senate, not a single one of the men and women on Trump’s list stands a chance of being confirmed.