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If she fails to show on Thursday or withdraws prior to, Grassley needs to be ready to take this to a vote

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Bingo. And if Collins is still unsure Thursday after a no-show, she wasn't planning on voting "yes" anyway.

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Originally posted by chellim1:

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You should recall that when this current crop was elected, it wasn’t that way for the Court. It was only in the Gorsuch confirmation that the “Reid Rule” fka nuclear option, was invoked for Supreme Court.

Clarence Thomas was confirmed by a narrow majority of 52 to 48 on October 15, 1991.

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Originally posted by Il Cattivo:
As long as we're sitting around imagining what Collins is thinking...

Maybe she's trying to cut a deal in exchange for her vote. Some kind of federal assistance with health care or health insurance for Maine would be just the ticket for her politically, and the same thing for Alaska might be enough to bring Murkowski along.

Maybe she's worried that as soon as she singles herself out by committing to vote to confirm Kavanaugh the volume of harrassment, emails, office invasions and phone calls she's been dealing with will get even worse.

Maybe she's worried that if she singles herself out by committing to vote to confirm Kavanaugh some loon will try to physically attack her, her family or her staff.

Maybe she's worried that some women will think she sold them out, so she wants to vote "yes" at the last minute in order to be able to claim she "thought about it long and hard" before making a decision.

Maybe she's waiting for Flake and/or Murkowski to commit so that she's got political cover ("Kavanaugh was going to get confirmed anyway") for voting to confirm his nomination.

We can imagine all kinds of alternative motives and scenarios. But at this point it is well within the realm of the possible that she herself doesn't quite know what she's going to do or how she's going to play her cards between now and the end of the Senate vote on confirmation.

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Originally posted by sdy:
Christine Ford in an April 2017 anti-Trump Science March in Los Angeles.

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Originally posted by JALLEN:

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Originally posted by chellim1:

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You should recall that when this current crop was elected, it wasn’t that way for the Court. It was only in the Gorsuch confirmation that the “Reid Rule” fka nuclear option, was invoked for Supreme Court.

Clarence Thomas was confirmed by a narrow majority of 52 to 48 on October 15, 1991.

There were at least 60 votes on the cloture motion to end debate.

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Originally posted by justjoe:

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Again with only 51 republican in the senate and at least 3 of them not supposedly not committed yet I can't be too critical of what Check Grassley did

Grassley has made it all much worse. And it will be worse yet if he allows it to drag on even further.

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Originally posted by TMats:
Assuming she does testify, will she be put under oath? I’ve never seen that confirmed either way.

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Originally posted by chellim1:

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Originally posted by JALLEN:

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Originally posted by chellim1:

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You should recall that when this current crop was elected, it wasn’t that way for the Court. It was only in the Gorsuch confirmation that the “Reid Rule” fka nuclear option, was invoked for Supreme Court.

Clarence Thomas was confirmed by a narrow majority of 52 to 48 on October 15, 1991.

There were at least 60 votes on the cloture motion to end debate.

Because there was no cloture vote required to end debate on the floor, Thomas was granted a straight up-or-down vote on the Senate floor, and was confirmed 52–48.

It’s a misconception that there were 60 votes required to confirm a Supreme Court Justice; the 60 votes were needed to invoke cloture and end debate, if others wished to keep the floor open. In the Thomas confirmation, there was no such effort - he went straight from committee to the floor without the need for a cloture vote.

Here are the final votes for the members of the court prior to Gorsuch. Note Alito and Thomas are the two sitting justices who did not receive 60 votes for confirmation.

Elena Kagan: 63 to 37 (2010)
Sonia Sotomayor: 68 to 31 (2009)
Samuel A. Alito Jr.: 58 to 42 (2006)
John G. Roberts Jr.: 78 to 22 (2005)
Stephen G. Breyer: 87 to 9 (1994)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 96 to 3 (1993)
Clarence Thomas: 52 to 48 (1991)
Anthony M. Kennedy: 97 to 0 (1988)

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1. The President usually will consult with Senators before announcing a nomination.

2. When the President nominates a candidate, the nomination is sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee for consideration.

3. The Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on the nominee. The Committee usually takes a month to collect and receive all necessary records, from the FBI and other sources, about the nominee and for the nominee to be prepared for the hearings.

4. During the hearings, witnesses, both supporting and opposing the nomination, present their views. Senators question the nominee on his or her qualifications, judgment, and philosophy.

5. The Judiciary Committee then votes on the nomination and sends its recommendation (that it be confirmed, that it be rejected, or with no recommendation) to the full Senate.

6. The full Senate debates the nomination.

7. The Senate rules used to allow unlimited debate (a practice known as filibustering) and to end the debate, it required the votes of 3/5 of the Senate or 60 senators (known as the cloture vote). In April 2017, the Senate changed this rule and lowered the required votes to 51 to end debate on Supreme Court nominations (this is commonly known as "the nuclear option").

8. When the debate ends, the Senate votes on the nomination. A simple majority of the Senators present and voting is required for the judicial nominee to be confirmed. If there is a tie, the Vice President who also presides over the Senate casts the deciding vote.