Things could always be worse. And the Democrat members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are proof.
Politico reports that hours before Brett Kavanaugh arrived for the first day of his confirmation hearings, Chuck Schumer debated whether to stage a massive walkout protest. The minority leader and his deputies actually contemplated skipping work.
Some younger senators on the committee were ready to roll. Some older institutionalists were opposed. They decided to obstruct through parliamentary procedure instead. And while the theatrics of the first day were bad enough, it’s good that the older heads prevailed. A walkout would’ve been disastrous. Just ask Indiana Democrats.
Angry about the introduction of right to work legislation in 2011, Democratic members of the state House of Representatives skipped town. To deny the Republican majority a quorum and gum up the process, they literally fled the state. They hid in Illinois motels and hotels for almost six weeks.
Did it work? Short answer, no.
The AWOL Democrats returned to work only after then Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels threatened to fine each wayward member as much as $100,000. Democrats did manage to table the bill, albeit temporarily. The next year Republicans passed the right-to-work legislation and they passed another bill that made legislative walkouts criminal. The whole episode made Republicans look like the responsible ones, and they haven’t lost control of the state House ever since.
A similar phenomenon occurred in Wisconsin with Republican Gov. Scott Walker that same year, when 14 Democratic members of the state Senate skipped town for Illinois. That also didn’t work. The walkouts led to recall elections and the recall elections led to another Republican majority plus a gubernatorial juggernaut in Walker.
Even if Democrats on Capitol Hill didn’t flee the District of Columbia, it’s hard to see how they could have come out on top politically. Any concessions on the documents they pretend to so desperately want would be temporary. Republicans control the upper chamber and Republicans have the votes to confirm Kavanaugh. In fact, if there was a walkout, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell might enjoy some extra breathing room in his whip count thanks to embarrassed red-state Democrats feeling forced to switch sides.
Democrats in the House know a bit about this as well. In an embarrassing and somewhat forgotten 2016 episode, About 60 House Democrats staged a sit-in on the floor of the lower chamber to demand action on gun control after the Orlando shooting. The media swooned and stirring speeches were given, but it was a total bust and Democrats went on to lose the subsequent election (House Democrats also lost the national popular vote) against all expectations.
The electorate expects the elected to do their job and, at a bare minimum, act like adults by following the rules. The fact that Democrats even considered a walkout shows they’re running out of options. Luckily for them, they didn’t make things worse with a boneheaded strategy doomed to fail.
