Back in March, Democratic senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia stated that he was “sick and tired” of President Biden’s judicial nominees, and he announced that he was adopting a new practice of voting against any Biden judicial nominee who didn’t have the support of a single Republican senator. But yesterday Manchin voted for cloture on Biden’s nomination of Kevin Ritz to the Sixth Circuit, even though Ritz received no Republican votes and even though Manchin’s fellow Democrat-turned-independent* Kyrsten Sinema also voted against Ritz.
As Axios notes, by “backtrack[ing]” on his “March promise,” Manchin “has given Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer a potentially easier path to helping President Biden beat former President Trump’s record on judicial nominees.” Maybe Manchin’s vote for Ritz will turn out to be a one-off aberration. But if Manchin, who is retiring from the Senate, has abandoned his commitment, one has to wonder what Schumer has promised him in exchange.
Ritz’s confirmation vote is scheduled for late Monday. If all Republican senators show up for the vote—sadly, that’s a big If—and vote no, and if Sinema also votes no, Democrats would need Vice President Harris’s tie-breaking vote to confirm Ritz. But Harris surely plans to be off campaigning for president. All the more reason that all Republican senators should make sure they are present on Monday to vote against Ritz.
* Both Manchin and Sinema were elected as Democrats. Manchin registered as an independent at the end of May 2024, Sinema in December 2022, but they remain part of the Democratic caucus in the Senate.