WASHINGTON — On a Saturday evening in February 2016, just hours after Justice Antonin Scalia died during a hunting trip, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican majority leader, interrupted a Caribbean vacation to draw a line in the sand.
Democrats knew going into the battle over Garland that the fight would not only be about the justice and his record but also be about the very process of “advice and consent” laid out for senators in the Constitution. Republicans split on whether they should even take the customary introductory meetings with the nominee; McConnell refused to do so, although two endangered Republicans, Mark Kirk of Illinois and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, said they would.
That change — known in Senate parlance as “the nuclear option” — eased the path for the confirmation of both Gorsuch, 419 days after Scalia died, and Brett Kavanaugh last year. And it now leaves Democrats with scant ammunition to fight a Trump nominee to fill the Ginsburg seat. With Republicans holding a 53-47 Senate majority, four of them would have to defect in order to block confirmation.
Garland had twice made it onto Obama’s shortlist, but the president chose Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan instead. He would keep Garland in reserve as a sort of “break glass in case of emergency” candidate. McConnell himself was taking a gamble. Had Hillary Clinton, who was then running to succeed Obama, won the presidency — as many Democrats and Trump himself expected — she would have been unlikely to choose a nominee like Garland, whose judicial record, particularly on cases involving national security and campaign finance, was not always pleasing to liberals.
“I think he is about as well qualified as any nominee to this court,” she said in an interview in her chambers in July 2016. “Super bright and very nice, very easy to deal with. And super prepared. He would be a great colleague.”
Yes, the Pres nominates who they want, and Congress decides the outcome. Got it?
Liberals are whining because they know they have LOST again Must be Sunday
The only nominee that should be considered right now is Merrick Garland. He has been waiting 4 years for his Senate hearings!
The Republican hypocrisy is off the scale on this one!
No they don’t. As in 2016, only once since 1880, did the opposing party voted for the others nomination. However, when the Presidency and Senate are of the same Party, it happens 29 times. FillTheSeatNOW
They truly could care less if they look like hypocrites. They sold their souls when they bowed down to Trump and didn’t reign him in. They’re a bunch of cowards.
No it doesn’t
Yes it does!!!!!!