Nope, Didn't Happen

Noon came and went, and no Supreme Court nomination from the President:

U.S. Circuit Judge Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court expired at noon Tuesday, clearing the way for President-elect Donald Trump to fill a vacancy Senate Republicans held open for months with an appointee championed by conservatives.

That means Roe is probably in deep trouble sooner rather than later.

It also means, I think that the possibility of Obama taking any of the other out-of-the-box actions we've thought about, has shrunk to almost nothing. And no, #TrumpLeaks, you're not going to get the President to do anything unless you have tapes or e-mails of Trump or his people communicating directly with the FBI or Putin's camp.

I, for one, do not welcome our new orange overlord.

Robert Reich's First 100 Day Resistance Plan

Worth a read. A few of my favorites:

1. Get Democrats in the Congress and across the country to pledge to oppose Trump’s agenda. Prolong the process of approving choices, draw out hearings, stand up as sanctuary cities and states. Take a stand. Call your senator and your representative (phone calls are always better than writing).

We should keep in mind that it would help to have a majority on some things, so we should make a point of calling Republicans that might be a bit squishy, as well (there aren't many).

 7. Website containing up-to-date daily bulletins on what actions people are planning around the country, and where, so others can join in. Techies, get organized.

Hey DNC? Get on this.

 9. Lawsuits: Our version of “Drill, baby, drill” is “Sue, baby, sue.” Throw sand in the gears. Lawyers, get organized.

Everything we can do on the legal front helps. Merrick Garland, anyone?

Some of the rest are unlikely to work, but that's OK. We need all the good pushes we can get. Please, Dr. Reich, less of the Democratic purity stuff (we really are as close to a liberal ideal for the party as we've been since at least 1972), and more of what we, as a party, as well as any defectors who have the scales lifted from their eyes, can do together.

Should/Can Obama Make a Supreme Court Recess Appointment?

Totally not clear to me. I read a piece in TNR today by David Dayen, a writer whom I've respected since his days at Hullabaloo way back in the 'aughts, for his take:

Here’s how it would work. Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution states, “The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate.” This has been used for Supreme Court vacancies before—William Brennan began his Court tenure with a recess appointment in 1956. Any appointments made in this fashion expire at the end of the next Senate session. So a Garland appointment on January 3 would last until December 2017, the end of the first session of the 115th Congress.

Surprisingly, there's not a whole lot written on this, but if it were at all possible, it could give liberals a 5-4 majority for a year, potentially making decisions on earthshaking cases, and also gumming up the works for perhaps a couple of years, which is what I believe we need to do in so many ways.

Rolling Stone appears more dubious on the topic:

Rolling Stone asked Nan Aron, president of Alliance for Justice and a longtime crusader against conservative justices (she waged high-profile battles against Roberts' and Alito's confirmations) if Obama has any options left with regard to the high court. Her answer, in short: No – but that doesn't mean progressives should let it go. 

Regarding the recent petition, Aron says she "can't envision a procedural maneuver that would allow the president to place Garland on the Court." Because there is no precedent, it's hard to envision how it would work, technically – would Garland just show up to chambers one day and take Scalia's seat? But more important, Aron says, is the fact that the idea has "got, as far as I know, very little support among individuals from either side of the political aisle." 

There has been slightly more talk around the possibility of Obama making a recess appointment – to install Garland in the seat, temporarily, between sessions of Congress. "The difficulty with a recess appointment is that he would only have that position on the Supreme Court for a very limited amount of time," Aron says. "He'd be on the Court for a year and it doesn't serve the public, the Court or justice to put anyone on the bench on the Supreme Court [for such a short amount of time.]"

It sounds like Obama can, but he won't. It doesn't seem like his style to me.

I'm still not positive he can... if you have a take, drop it in the comments!