ABA Midyear Meeting 2017: When Voting Goes Nuclear

The words “nuclear option” have been dominating the news as a result of Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination for Supreme Court justice. Aside from sounding terrifying, what does it mean to resort to the nuclear option and why is it significant? In today’s report from On The Road, host Laurence Colletti and guests Karen Popp and Russell Wheeler hash out rules of Senate voting and discuss the decrease in judges qualified to be nominated for the Supreme Court. They also talk about the potential long term effects of using the nuclear option within the senate, both positive and negative.

Russell R. Wheeler is president of the Governance Institute and a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution. His current focus includes legislative-judicial relations and immigrant adjudication.

Karen A. Popp is the global co-leader of Sidley Austin LLP’s White Collar: Government Litigation & Investigations group. Her practice is informed by a wealth of government and private sector experience, including service as a federal prosecutor in New York, a lawyer in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice, and associate White House counsel to President Clinton.