I’m going to say the exact same thing I said when President Obama was trying to fill Justice Scalia’s seat.
The politicians should do their jobs.
When Mitch McConnell stalled the confirmation of President Obama’s nominee, he was wrong. But, denying President Trump the opportunity to fill the empty seat on the bench is also wrong. And, two wrongs don’t make a right.
This isn’t an opinion based on a Conservative viewpoint. As I just said, I was against stalling tactics back in 2016 and I’m against them now.
I didn’t vote to elect a president to serve only 95% of his four-year term. A president is elected to serve until on or about noon on January 20th, 5 years later. Whether or not there is an election and whether or not a president is reelected has no bearing on whether or not he is expected to perform his duties. And, one of those duties is to nominate Supreme Court justices.
Likewise, the process of confirming a Justice should not impacted by an election. The Senate Judiciary Committee has a job to do regardless of how close someone is to the end of their term. Until January 20th rolls around, I expect them to do their job to the fullest of their abilities.
I’d like the Left to keep something in mind when you start talking about how bad it is for the open position to be filled before the election.
If the situation were reversed, you would have absolutely no problem with the outcome. If a Democratic-run Senate Judiciary Committee had stalled to block the confirmation of a Republican President in 2016. Not one of you would have complained. And, if the same Democratic-run Senate Judiciary Committee was planning on fast-tracking a confirmation in 2020, you wouldn’t take issue with that either.
The 2020 election is likely to be disputed regardless of who wins. And that dispute will likely end up at the Supreme Court. So, leaving a seat empty is not practical nor wise. The vacant seat needs to be filled and the person charged with filling it is the current President of the United States.
Here’s an idea. How about if you wait to bitch until you see who has been nominated. It’s entirely possible that you’ll agree with person nominated. And, if the selection is a good one, does it really matter who made it? No, it does not.
I’ll leave you with one final thought. This whole 11th-hour problem was brought on by Ruth Bader Ginsburg herself. She had been sick for over 20 years. She had to know that she was dying. For reasons known only to her, she decided to keep working long past the point where any reasonable person would have quit. Call it heroic or stubborn, the truth is that she had the power to prevent this partisan bickering from happening. And yet she didn’t.
So, please stop complaining that appointing a new Justice is unfair, immoral or illegal. Because it isn’t. This wouldn’t be an issue for you at all if a Democratic president was about to nominate a candidate. Which makes you a hypocrite.
President Trump was elected to serve the American people, at least through January 20th. Arguing that he shouldn’t be allowed to fulfill his duties is just plain stupid.
Note: For anyone wanting to poke holes in my math, the president is elected in November and his/her term expires on the 5th January 20th following his election. His/her inauguration is the first January 20th.
