[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 581 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 581

 Prohibiting the Senate from adjourning, recessing, or convening in a 
 pro forma session unless the Senate has provided a hearing and a vote 
  on the pending nomination to the position of justice of the Supreme 
                      Court of the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 27, 2016

 Mr. Blumenthal (for himself, Mr. Leahy, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Bennet, Mr. 
 Booker, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Brown, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Carper, 
  Mr. Casey, Mr. Coons, Mr. Donnelly, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. 
 Franken, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Heinrich, Ms. Heitkamp, Ms. Hirono, Mr. 
  Kaine, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Markey, Mrs. McCaskill, Mr. Menendez, Mr. 
 Merkley, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Murphy, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Peters, Mr. Reed, 
   Mr. Reid, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Schumer, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. 
     Stabenow, Mr. Tester, Mr. Udall, Mr. Warner, Ms. Warren, Mr. 
 Whitehouse, and Mr. Wyden) submitted the following resolution; which 
       was referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Prohibiting the Senate from adjourning, recessing, or convening in a 
 pro forma session unless the Senate has provided a hearing and a vote 
  on the pending nomination to the position of justice of the Supreme 
                      Court of the United States.

Whereas the Constitution of the United States provides that the President shall 
        ``nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall 
        appoint'' justices of the Supreme Court of the United States (in this 
        preamble referred to as the ``Supreme Court'');
Whereas the constitutional duty of the Senate of providing advice and consent on 
        nominees to be a justice of the Supreme Court is one of the most 
        important and solemn responsibilities of the Senate;
Whereas the Senate has taken action on every pending nominee to fill a vacancy 
        on the Supreme Court in the last 100 years;
Whereas the Senate has confirmed 13 justices of the Supreme Court in the month 
        of September, including Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Antonin 
        Scalia;
Whereas there has never been a time in history when an elected President has 
        been denied the ability to fill a Supreme Court vacancy, by and with the 
        advice and consent of the Senate, prior to the election of the next 
        President;
Whereas the Senate has confirmed more than a dozen justices of the Supreme Court 
        in Presidential election years, including 5 in the last 100 years;
Whereas the Senate has confirmed justices of the Supreme Court in election years 
        in which the executive and legislative branches of the Federal 
        Government were divided between 2 political parties, including 
        confirming Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy in 1988;
Whereas the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate has never denied a hearing 
        to a nominee to be a justice of the Supreme Court since the committee 
        began holding public confirmation hearings for such nominees in 1916;
Whereas the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate has a long tradition of 
        reporting nominees to be a justice of the Supreme Court for 
        consideration by the full Senate, even in cases in which the nominee 
        lacked the support of a majority of the committee, including the 
        nominations of Associate Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991 and Robert Bork 
        in 1987;
Whereas the Federal Judiciary is a coequal branch of the Federal Government and 
        the Supreme Court serves an essential function resolving questions of 
        law that affect the economy and people of the United States and the 
        protection of the United States and its communities;
Whereas forcing the Supreme Court to function with only 8 sitting justices has 
        created several instances, and risks creating more instances, in which 
        the justices are evenly divided as to the outcome of a case, preventing 
        the Supreme Court from resolving conflicting interpretations of the law 
        from different regions of the United States and thereby undermining the 
        constitutional function of the Supreme Court as the final arbiter of the 
        law;
Whereas the Supreme Court recusal policy adopted in 1993 and signed by Chief 
        Justice William H. Rehnquist, Associate Justices John Paul Stevens, 
        Antonin Scalia, Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, 
        and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and later adopted by Chief Justice John 
        Roberts, stresses that ``even one unnecessary recusal impairs the 
        functioning of the Court'' and that ``needless recusal deprives 
        litigants of the nine Justices to which they are entitled, produces the 
        possibility of an even division on the merits of the case, and has a 
        distorting effect on the certiorari process, requiring the petition to 
        obtain (under our current practice) four votes out of eight instead of 
        four out of nine'';
Whereas since 1975, the average number of days from nomination to confirmation 
        vote for a nominee to be a justice of the Supreme Court has been 70 
        days;
Whereas the vacancy on the Supreme Court caused by the death of Associate 
        Justice Antonin Scalia arose on February 13, 2016, and the days since 
        the occurrence of that vacancy now number more than 200 days; and
Whereas, on March 16, 2016, President Obama nominated Merrick B. Garland, Chief 
        Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia 
        Circuit, to fill the Supreme Court vacancy caused by the death of 
        Associate Justice Antonin Scalia: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This resolution may be cited as the ``No Vote No Recess 
Resolution''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITING ADJOURNMENT OR PRO FORMA SESSIONS UNTIL ACTION ON 
              NOMINEE TO SUPREME COURT.

    (a) Prohibition.--During the period beginning on September 27, 
2016, and ending on the last day of the 114th Congress, the Senate 
shall not adjourn, remain adjourned, or recess for a period of more 
than 2 days and shall not convene solely in a pro forma session unless, 
by the date on which the period of adjournment begins or the date of 
the pro forma session, the Senate has taken action on any nomination 
made by the President for a position as a justice of the Supreme Court 
of the United States by--
            (1) holding a hearing on the nomination in the Committee on 
        the Judiciary of the Senate;
            (2) holding a vote on the nomination in the Committee on 
        the Judiciary of the Senate; and
            (3) holding a confirmation vote on the nomination in the 
        full Senate.
    (b) Adjourning and Recessing.--During the period beginning on 
September 27, 2016, and ending on the date on which the requirements 
under paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of subsection (a) are met--
            (1) a motion to adjourn or to recess the Senate, or any 
        resolution or order of the Senate including a provision that 
        the Senate adjourn at a time certain, shall be decided by a 
        yea-or-nay vote, and agreed to upon an affirmative vote of two-
        thirds of the Senators voting, a quorum being present;
            (2) if a quorum is present, the Presiding Officer shall not 
        entertain a request to adjourn or recess the Senate by 
        unanimous consent or to vitiate the yeas and nays on such a 
        motion by unanimous consent; and
            (3) if the Senate adjourns due to the absence of a quorum, 
        the Senate shall reconvene 2 hours after the time at which it 
        adjourns and ascertain the presence of a quorum.
    (c) No Suspension of Requirements.--The Presiding Officer may not 
entertain a request to suspend the operation of this resolution by 
unanimous consent or motion.
    (d) Consistency With Senate Emergency Procedures and Practices.--
Nothing in this resolution shall be construed in a manner that is 
inconsistent with S. Res. 296 (108th Congress) or any other emergency 
procedures or practices of the Senate.
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