[blondie9x]

Unprecedented in recent history. There really should be a law that the Senate needs to start holding hearings within X days. Otherwise partisanship will creep up on either side or multiple sides if we ever move beyond two parties.

[kbutler]

"Unprecedented" means "never done or known before", and "never" means "at no time in the past or future; on no occasion; not ever."

"Unprecedented in recent history" is misleading sensationalism.

[koolba]

> Unprecedented in recent history. There really should be a law that the Senate needs to start holding hearings within X days. Otherwise partisanship will creep up on either side or multiple sides if we ever move beyond two parties.

Similar to a pocket veto, not acting upon a nomination is a form of action. It's an indirect mechanism to reject a nominee.

I'm pretty sure changing this to mandate a hearing within a fixed number of days would require a constitutional amendment, not just a regular law, so is essentially impossible.

[joshuamorton]

A pocket veto has a built in time limit. So it's not at all similar.

[tomrod]

And it's an unintentional power that should be restricted in the minds of many.