If Joe Biden wants Joe Manchin (D., W.V.) to vote in favor of his judicial nominees, then the president and the Democratic leadership will need to convince at least one Republican to join their vote. The independent-minded West Virginian senator, set to retire this year and making use of the shaky Democratic majority in the Senate, is calling this standard of bipartisanship “my own little filibuster.”
From Politico:
The retiring West Virginia Democrat has quietly voted against several judicial picks this week, making for some close — though still ultimately successful — votes on the Senate floor. Manchin said there’s a method to his opposition.
“Just one Republican. That’s all I’m asking for. Give me something bipartisan. This is my own little filibuster. If they can’t get one Republican, I vote for none. I’ve told [Democrats] that. I said, ‘I’m sick and tired of it, I can’t take it anymore,’” Manchin said in an interview Wednesday.
Manchin’s stance makes party-line nominees even trickier as the election nears, requiring total unanimity among the rest of the 51-member caucus unless a nominee has bipartisan support. At the moment, that might be enough to stop the nomination of Adeel Mangi to an appeals court; Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) came out in opposition to his nomination on Tuesday evening and he has no Republican support at the moment.
This little filibuster has a few benefits. First, it may keep an unfit justice, Adeel Mangi, from serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. As has been reported in National Review for months, Mangi sat on the board of an organization (Center for Security, Race, and Rights at Rutgers) that “produced several extremist programs, featured speakers with ties to known terrorist organizations, and sponsored lectures brazenly touting antisemitic themes.” While one may quibble about how much input (or even awareness) a board member has of the organizations of which he is a part, we should expect higher than average prudence and wisdom from those who wish to review the legal questions of our time.
Second, the Manchin filibuster would offer other Democrats the cover they need to reject Mangi — especially helpful for Dems in districts with significant Jewish populations who would be less than enthused about his appointment. Republicans can strike a poor justice from the roster, and Dems won’t provoke the righteous ire of their constituents nearly as much. Manchin offers something to everyone.
Third, this pronouncement from Manchin allows him maximum political flexibility going forward. Will he run as a third-party candidate in 2024? Probably not (though one can’t rule it out despite his insistence to the negative in February), but he’ll find himself employable in either a Trump or a Biden administration (or on any energy giant’s board). Manchin is concluding his two years as the regent of the Senate on his terms — good for him and good for us.