“Not two
hours after Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died on February 13, 2016,
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had already thrown
down a gauntlet: The Senate would not confirm a replacement for
Scalia before a new president had taken office. McConnell sneeringly called the
principle the ‘Biden rule,’ referring to remarks in
1992 from then-Sen. Joe Biden, who urged the Senate president to delay a
hypothetical confirmation until after the election if a vacancy did appear,
following the contentious confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas.
“We all know
how this story ended in 2016: McConnell got his way. President Barack
Obama’s nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, was never given a vote, and Trump
nominee Justice Neil Gorsuch was confirmed on April 7, 2017.
“There’s
little hope that McConnell will actually stick to the principle he laid out
when Scalia died four years ago (342 days before the next president took office).
‘President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United
States Senate,’ McConnell said in a statement Friday
night. But following the death
of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg earlier today (124 days before
inauguration day 2021), it’s worth holding him to his words anyway.
“February
13, 2016: ‘The
American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme
Court Justice,’ McConnell said in a statement released after Scalia’s death.
‘Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.’
[Furthermore], ‘I can now confidently say the
view shared by virtually everybody in my conference, is that the nomination
should be made by the president the people elect in the election that’s
underway right now,’
“McConnell told reporters following
Senate Republicans’ first closed-door meeting after Scalia’s death. ‘I believe
the overwhelming view of the Republican Conference in the Senate is that this
nomination should not be filled, this vacancy should not be filled by this lame
duck president…The American people are perfectly capable of having their say on
this issue, so let’s give them a voice. Let’s let the American people decide.
The Senate will appropriately revisit the matter when it considers the
qualifications of the nominee the next president nominates, whoever that might
be.’
“March 16, 2016: “The Senate will continue to observe
the ‘Biden rule’ so that the American people have a voice in this momentous
decision on who to name to the court,’ McConnell said in a floor speech the day
Obama nominated Garland.
“May 18,
2016: Reacting to
a forum called by Senate Democrats to discuss the lingering nomination of
Garland, a statement from McConnell’s office called it a ‘sham
hearing’ and claimed Democrats were being hypocritical about the need to
confirm Garland in an election year: ‘It seems the more we hear from Democrats
about the Supreme Court the more we’re reminded by comparison of how reasonable
and common-sense the Republican position is today.’
“August 6, 2016: ‘One of my proudest moments was when
I looked at Barack Obama in the eye and I said, ‘Mr. President, you will not
fill this Supreme Court vacancy,'’ McConnell told supporters at a political
event in his home state of Kentucky.
“Then, three year later, McConnell
confirmed what everyone already knew: The principle he’d touted so regularly in
2016 was nothing but a matter of pure partisanship.
“May 28,
2019: An attendee at a Chamber of Commerce event in
Kentucky asks McConnell, ‘Should a Supreme Court justice die next year, what
will your position be on filling that spot?’ ‘Oh, we’d fill it,’ McConnell
replied, grinning” (Five Times Mitch McConnell Said We Shouldn’t Confirm a
SCOTUS Justice in an Election Year, Mother Jones).
"Senate Democrats must: block unanimous consent on every single thing for the rest of the year. It may be our best chance to stop Trump and McConnell."
ReplyDeletePetition Our Democrats.
https://act.demandprogress.org/sign/rbg-scotus/
https://act.demandprogress.org/sign/rbg-scotus/