(Wrongo is watching the NCAA Basketball tournament. This takes a yuuge amount of time, and beer. Therefore, this is a brief, poorly researched post. Luckily, it has a great cartoon!)
Obama has nominated a potential new justice, Merrick Garland. Now, the ball is in the GOP’s court to consent or not:
The smart move by the GOP would be to schedule or hold confirmation hearings so it looked as if Garland Merrick has a shot.
Of course, it would be smart, if the GOP Senators hadn’t already staked out the position of “no hearings, no votes, no nothing” the day after Scalia died. The problem is that some of these Republican Senators have their primaries as late as August, so they have to fend off attacks from their right flank until then.
Going back on their position now would give their further-right opponents something to run on, and they really don’t want that. So they will want to delay any hearings until after August, at which point we’re into election season, and, it gets easier to say “we’re holding hearings” even though you’ve spent months giving the media quotes about why there would be no hearings. If there are no hearings, the Dems get to target those Republican Senators who are in tight races, saying that they are simply blocking the nomination because they hate Obama, an idea that doesn’t test well with independents.
McConnell could have said, of course there will be hearings, but that Obama shouldn’t expect any of his nominees to get confirmed because of “grave concerns” that the Republicans in the Senate had about the politics of a confirmation battle during an election year, how they prefer not to turn the Court process into presidential partisan politics.
In other words, he should have taken the high road. Instead, he just said “NO”, (like Nancy Reagan did, and we know how great that worked out).
Mitch the Turtle made the GOPs red meat base happy, but has also made this into a mess that makes the GOP look as petty and incompetent as possible. A big part of the value of the Garland nomination is that he comes “pre-approved” by prominent Senate Republicans which forces their hand: Either cave on their obstruction threats (which would frustrate their base) or see their empty posturing exposed for what it is.
Either way they look like chumps.
The Garland nomination could help increase turnout against the GOP in the general election, and put a few Senate races in play.
Time to consider that the manner in which the senate approves nominations was never what was intended. In fact, the first time Washington visited the senate for confirmation of an appointment, he was surprised that the room didn’t just hear him out and approve the person.
It was a surprise to him, and slowly over time, the nomination process has become toxic – so neither Bush II nor Obama could easily fill vacancies.
It is an example of how our constitution is not the great document that we pretend it is, rather it is a creaky antique that needs complete overhaul.
Excellent point Terry. Republicans have taken the Senate’s Advise & Consent prerogative to a constitutional breaking point. Time to vote out the most toxic Senators, and ultimately, change the Constitution itself.
or…………Install term limits. We do not need to distinguish between the toxic and so-called non-toxic Congressional members. Being a politician should not be a job. It should be a service that one is honored to take on for a short period of time.
That being said. McConnell was a fool for taking a firm stand on this issue. He is obviously not a poker player. Mitch could have slow played this for months.
As crazy as this may sound…I agree with the President. He has the Constitutional obligation to attempt to fill the seat.