It’s been two days since Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. Since then there have been all kinds of things happening.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority leader, went directly to politics, even before condolences.
Mitch Mcconnell went on record as saying the President’s nominee will get a floor vote in the Senate a couple of hours after Schumer’s tweets.
The President said there would be a nominee this week and that it would be a woman. As of now, the front runners are 7th Circuit Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett, 11th Circuit Court Judge Barbara Lagoa and 4th Circuit Court Judge Allison Rushing. My money is on Coney Barrett, her name was floated as a potential replacement for Anthony Kennedy. That seat ultimately went to Brett Kavanaugh.
The left is falling back to its old playbook regarding this nomination. First, there were overt threats of violence, arson and unrest.
Next came the Court packing scheme. Though I think if it comes to that, they’ll pull back. FDR threatened the same thing in the late 30’s only to lose support with regular folks. The Dems lost a bunch of seats in the house and Senate over that.
The Biden Rule? Well even Joe said it doesn’t exist. And the so-called McConnell rule doesn’t apply. The issue in 2016 with Merrick Garland’s nomination was the Senate was led by Republicans and Obama was a Democrat. This time around, the White House and Senate are held by the same party.
The most recent thing they’re threatening is another impeachment. I don’t know on what grounds, other than Orange Man Bad, but the idea has been floated.
The Constitutional Suuuper Genius Alexandria Ocasio Cortez weighed in, saying we must honor RBG’s dying wish. I don’t recall dying wishes anywhere in the Constitution, or anywhere else in the US code for that matter. Ginsburg’s “dying wish” was that her seat not be filled until a new president takes office in January.
As of today, Mitch McConnell has the votes needed to confirm whoever Trump nominates. So far, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have both Indicated they won’t be voting for a nominee prior to the election.