Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has praised Chief Judge Merrick Garland as “hardworking” and a “great judge.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) pointed out recently that Garland voted with Kavanaugh 93 percent of the time.
Fox News has joined the praise of Garland, pointing out that he joined 27 out of 28 opinions written by Kavanaugh, while Kavanaugh joined 28 out of 30 of Garland’s rulings.
High praise from Kavanaugh, Cruz and Fox News. Sounds like a guy who could get confirmed by the senate.
In fact, Garland is widely regarded as a moderate, and received plenty of praise by many Democrats and Republicans, including influential senators such as Orrin Hatch.
Garland has long been considered a prime prospect for the high court, serving as chief judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit — a frequent source of justices that is sometimes called the “little Supreme Court.”
But we remember what happened in 2016.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared any appointment by the sitting president (in this case, his nemesis Barack Obama) to be null and void. He said the next Supreme Court justice should be chosen by the next president — to be elected later that year.
In a speech, McConnell would say: “One of my proudest moments was when I looked Barack Obama in the eye and I said, ‘Mr. President, you will not fill the Supreme Court vacancy.’ ”
So Republicans were content to keep a Supreme Court seat open for over a year.
Which brings us to today.
With it increasingly apparent that Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination is collapsing, due to talk of sexual assault from not one, but two women, and talk of gang rapes and drugs, President Trump should consider nominating Garland as his replacement.
And Republicans, who have spent weeks pointing out how similar Garland is to Kavanaugh, should quickly endorse the idea and make it so.
Call is karma. Or just the right thing to do.