WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Tuesday launched an unprecedented blockade of President Barack Obama’s yet-to-be-named Supreme Court pick, saying they won’t give any nominee a hearing or even meet with the candidate…. “I don’t know how many times we need to say this,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters. “The Judiciary Committee has unanimously recommended to me that we not hold a hearing. I don’t know the purpose of such a visit. I would not be inclined to take one myself.”…. McConnell’s comments came after every Republican on the Judiciary Committee signed onto a letter saying they won’t give a hearing to Obama’s pick. Court nominees have to clear this committee before they can get a Senate confirmation vote, so without action here, literally nothing can happen…. “Because our decision is based on constitutional principle and born of a necessity to protect the will of the American people, this Committee will not hold hearings on any Supreme Court nominee until after our next President is sworn in on January 20, 2017,” reads the letter. It’s signed by Cornyn, Graham and Hatch, as well as GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Jeff Sessions (Ala.), Mike Lee (Utah), Ted Cruz (Texas), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), David Vitter (La.), David Perdue (Ga.) and Thom Tillis (N.C.).
OK, let’s be real; if you or I did our jobs in the way Republican congressmen are (not) doing theirs, we’d be fired for cause, and we wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. Yet these legislative equivalents of speed bumps have for the past seven-plus years have refused to do their jobs…yet they (with no sense of irony) blame their intransigence and obstruction on The Black Guy in the White House ©.
Now facing the question of how to address the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, Republicans in the Senate are refusing to meet, hold hearings for, or even consider a nominee put forward by The Black Guy in the White House ©. They’re assuming (or at least hoping) the next President will be a Republican who will nominate a reliably Conservative replacement for Scalia. Ideally, that candidate would be a clone of Scalia- dogmatic, hateful, disrespectful of those he disagrees with or is offended by, and intolerant in the extreme.
The most laughable part of the Republican justification for intransigence and obstruction is that it’s “based on constitutional principle and born of a necessity to protect the will of the American people.” That no constitutional principle has been cited (there’s none to be found) seems to matter not at all. They believe, and they claim it exists…and therefore in their hive mind it’s incontrovertible truth.
As for protecting “the will of the American people,” that will has already been made clear- twice, as a matter of face, through something I like to call an “election,” in which the people express their will by voting. In said “election,” the candidate garnering the most votes wins. This is “the will of the American people.” The Black Guy in the White House © was elected AND re-elected. The American people have spoken- twice- and since The Black Guy in the White House © has almost a full year remaining in his second term, he has the constitutional responsibility and privilege of selecting a nominee he feels is the best fit for the job. The Senate has the constituional responsibility to consider the President’s choice and take and up or down vote. The President has made it clear he intends to fulfill his responsibility.
For their part, Republicans are refusing to meet their constitutional responsibility…by claiming a nonexistent constitutional principle which allows them to refuse to do their job. What it really comes down to is pressure from hard-core Conservatives who believe that creating a Conservative majority on the Supreme Court is the Prime Directive, more important even than maintaining a Republican majority in Congress. So there, you have it; it’s not about what’s best for the country or Republicans doing their job. It’s about politics and ensuring Conservatives continue to hold sway on the Court, thus maintaining the supremacy of Far Right positions for years, perhaps generations, to come.
Regardless of Republican posturing, the sad fact is that, no matter what they ultimately decide to do, they’re very likely screwed. I can’t wait to watch them squirming as they try to figure a way out of the corner they’ve painted themselves into.
Democrats have shot back that it would be unprecedented to not even consider a president’s Supreme Court nominee and have vowed to make Republicans pay in November.
“The party of Lincoln is becoming the party of Donald Trump,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) responded Tuesday, referring to the divisive 2016 GOP front-runner. He also predicted that Grassley would “go down in history as the most obstructionist Judiciary chair” for blocking a hearing.
I’m more than willing to consider whatever “constitutional principle” Republicans think they can hang their argument on…but the truth is there isn’t one. There’s no precedent for delaying consideration of and voting on a Supreme Court nominee for a full year. This President is absolutely within his rights to put forward a nominee and expect the Senate to duly consider and vote on that person.
The only “principle” at work is that Republicans hate The Black Guy in the White House © Just. That. Much. Over the past seven years, they’ve made it clear that they’d sooner watch America burn than hand The Black Guy in the White House © anything even faintly redolent of a victory.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), however, said he’s confident their strategy of obstruction will pay off.
“Let me just say, we are very comfortable letting the American people speak on this issue,” the senator said.
Hmm…I wonder if Sen. Wicker has bothered to read any polls. If he had, he might come to understand that the American Sheeple are most definitely NOT on the side of intransigence and obstruction. If Republicans persist with this strategy, and if Democrats play their cards right, they could very well turn the November election into a referendum on the GOP’s intransigence and obstruction.
Then again, this is the Democratic Party we’re talking about, the political equivalent of The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight.
Stay tuned….
