Mitch McConnell is not a man history will remember as particularly honorable.
The debate over his role as Majority Leader in the Senate will studied and compared against others, but his lack-of-character will never be in doubt.
Not two hours after Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died on February 13, 2016, 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 Obama’s nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, was never given a vote, and Trump nominee Justice Neil Gorsuch was confirmed on April 7, 2017.
Yesterday, just two hours after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was announced, McConnell declared: “President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.”
The glaring hypocrisy is disgusting to every objective observer.
CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin said Friday night if McConnell and the Senate GOP were to push through a Supreme Court nominee before the election it would be “the greatest act of hypocrisy in American political history.”
“The idea Mitch McConnell could engage in the greatest act of hypocrisy in American political history by stopping Merrick Garland who faced a vacancy in February of an election year, and jamming someone through when there is a vacancy in September of an election year — I don’t think that’s a foregone conclusion. I also recognize that there are only 53 Republicans in the Senate. Will Mitt Romney go along with this? Will Lisa Murkowski? Will Susan Collins? Will Lamar Alexander?”
Toobin went through the list Trump recently laid out for who he’d appoint to the Supreme Court, saying, “This would be a deeply, deeply right wing court, and John Roberts — who has shown signs of moderation — would be irrelevant.
He said Democrats can either “pretend they are powerless in this situation or they can pick a fight for once.”
Republicans control the Senate by a 53-47 margin, meaning they could lose up to three votes and still confirm a justice, if Vice President Mike Pence were to break a 50-50 tie.
Supreme Court nominations used to need 60 votes for confirmation if any senator objected, but McConnell changed Senate rules in 2017 to allow the confirmation of justices with 51 votes.
He did so as Democrats threatened to filibuster Trump´s first nominee, Justice Neil Gorsuch.
Republicans are defending 25 of the 38 seats that are on the ballot this year, and many of their vulnerable members have been eager to end the fall session and return home to the campaign trail.
The Senate is scheduled to recess in mid-October, though that schedule could change.
Still, many of the most vulnerable senators may be hesitant to vote on a nominee before facing voters in November, and their views could ultimately determine the timeline for action.
Others may want to campaign on their eventual vote.
McConnell himself is among those up for reelection this year.
Democratic nominee Joe Biden said the winner of the November election should choose Ginsburg´s replacement.
‘There is no doubt – let me be clear – that the voters should pick the president and the president should pick the justice for the Senate to consider,’ Biden said Friday.