Democrats are giddy over the prospect of President Obama replacing conservative Justice Antonin Scalia with a liberal.
But Republicans are equally adamant about blocking Obama’s lame-duck appointment. “This vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president,” says Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
It’s rare that a president makes a Supreme Court appointment during his last months in office. But timing’s not the critical issue. The real outrage is the Democrats’ baseless claim that Obama’s promised nominee should have an automatic green light to the bench.
Party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz urged the Senate to move quickly, “as our founders intended,” and not be “twisted by politics.”
Hillary Clinton says any obstruction would “dishonor our Constitution.” Sorry, that’s not what the Constitution says.
Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders also insists it would be wrong to delay Obama’s court pick for “overtly political reasons.”
All these politicians need a history lesson. Claiming the Senate’s duty is to rubber stamp any “qualified” nominee is pure fiction.