Mendoza Confirmed — Champagne Fizz and Ideological Friction
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
The staff erupts as Mendoza's confirmation vote swings in their favor, Toby resisting celebration until the final 'yea' triggers champagne and cheers.
Sam and Mallory clash over school vouchers, their ideological sparring undercut by Sam's humorous deflection and the surrounding victory chaos.
Leo declares the Supreme Court victory just as the final vote seals Mendoza's confirmation, Toby's champagne explosion punctuating the triumph.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Cautiously optimistic; outwardly stoic but privately relieved — the celebration is controlled until the outcome is certain.
Toby sits taut, refusing early celebration ('Not yet.'), sits with a champagne bottle in his lap as a ritual restraint, then allows himself a rare smile and opens the bottle after the final 'yea', letting champagne foam across his lap.
- • To preserve professional discipline until the confirmation is official.
- • To contain superstition/temptation and avoid jinxing the result.
- • Premature celebration invites disaster; restraint is prudent.
- • Symbolic acts (like opening champagne) should follow concrete confirmation.
Calmly efficient with a quiet readiness—aware of stakes but focused on logistics rather than spectacle.
Margaret taps at Leo's door, prompts him during the phone call, follows him into the hallway, and then seats herself in the Mural Room to watch the roll call — a steady, administrative presence.
- • To keep the confirmation process moving smoothly and minimize distraction.
- • To support Leo’s pacing and provide discrete, timely information to senior staff.
- • Institutional order matters more than individual expressions of celebration.
- • Timing and decorum are essential when the administration is politically vulnerable.
Impassive and formal — his spoken vote carries institutional weight without personal affect.
Senator Rindell appears only as a television voice whose single audible 'Yea' provides the formal, procedural trigger that transforms the room’s mood from anxious to jubilant.
- • To record and communicate his formal vote as a Senator.
- • To conclude the procedural step that finalizes the confirmation.
- • Senate votes are the ultimate procedural expression of confirmation.
- • A single recorded vote can decisively alter political outcomes.
Loudly celebratory and volatile; their mood dictates the room's rhythm from derision to exultation.
The crowd in the adjoining Mural Room vocally shifts the scene's emotional register — booing a nay call and erupting into applause and cheering when the roll call swings to 'yea'.
- • To publicly express approval or disapproval of the Senate outcome.
- • To create a visible, social demonstration of support for the confirmation.
- • Public applause and noise amplify political wins.
- • Collective reaction matters for morale and optics.
Triumphant and released in the moment, energized by the win but quick to sharpen edges against opponents.
Josh stands in the Mural Room amid the crowd, shouting derisively ('Loser!') when a nay is called, then immediately rallies when the tally turns, embodying the operatives' quick emotional shifts.
- • To celebrate the political victory and mark opponents publicly.
- • To convert the confirmation into momentum for the administration's standing.
- • Public displays of political defeat should be met with quick ridicule.
- • Confirmation wins must be seized as immediate political capital.
Delighted at the confirmation but quickly embarrassed and chagrined when confronted; trying to protect his work and his pride.
Sam bursts into the room buoyant ('It's my day of jubilee'), engages in banter with Toby, and is immediately pulled into Mallory’s scathing attack about his vouchers position paper, attempting to deflect with humor.
- • To share in the victory and keep morale high.
- • To deflect or mollify Mallory's criticism and defend his policy work.
- • Political victories deserve momentary levity.
- • Policy debates are inevitable but shouldn't ruin interpersonal moments.
Affectionate toward Leo but morally indignant about policy; amused by the celebration while serious about policy critique.
Mallory arrives, gives Leo a hug, and playfully but sharply confronts Sam about his position paper on school vouchers — physically pops him on the shoulder and delivers a cutting one-liner.
- • To hold staff accountable for policy positions that affect public schools.
- • To use the moment of access to press a moral argument about vouchers.
- • Policy has real effects on classrooms and children.
- • Personal familiarity with administration staff gives her authority to challenge them.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
A small flat-panel television provides the narrative clock: it carries the Senate roll call into the mural room and audibly announces Senator Rindell then 'Yea,' converting backstage tension into public resolution and triggering the crowd's emotional swing.
Sam's position paper is the focal object of Mallory's reproach—an intellectual prop that crystallizes ideological disagreement. Though not physically brandished in the scene, it is invoked as the tangible artifact of Sam's vouchers argument and the reason for Mallory's contempt.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The hallway functions as the transitional artery: Leo and Margaret move from private deliberation into the public sphere, symbolically passing from damage control to celebration as they head toward the mural room.
Leo's office is the origination point for the phone clash: a confined, lamplit room where Leo receives Sydney's demand, Margaret delivers Donna's operative cue, and Leo makes the tactical reframing that defines the controversy's stakes before he departs.
The adjacent reception room stands in for the mural-room celebration: it houses the noisy crowd, televised vote-watching, and the immediate eruptive response to the Senate roll call—where ideological arguments and champagne rituals collide with revelry.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
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Key Dialogue
"LEO: "We're really going to make a federal case out of this? I mean we're literally going to make a federal case out of this?""
"LEO: "An appointment to a Justice post favors reparations to African-Americans.""
"MALLORY: "I despise you and everything you stand for." / SAM: "All right, the day was a little bit better a few seconds ago, but that's all right.""