Early in 2016, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia passed away unexpectedly. As would be expected, President Barack Obama nominated a qualified jurist, Judge Merrick Garland, to replace Scalia on the court. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wasn’t having any of that. Saying that the voters should have input on the selection of the next justice via their votes in the November 2016 presidential election…he withheld hearings on Judge Garland and the seat remained unfilled until President Donald Trump was sworn in. A despicable action on the part of the majority leader and absolutely awful precedent.
Now in Wisconsin in 2018, the voters actually spoke and elected Democrats into office for every statewide position on the November ballot. So the voters had spoken! Well the Wisconsin legislature was having none of that and during a lame duck session called for an entirely different reason, passed a number of bills restricting the powers and authority of the incoming governor and attorney general. Totally despicable actions taken in the dead of night behind the closed doors of the Republican caucus…and absolutely awful precedent.
And then we have the more recent appointments by lame duck governor Scott Walker. Appointments to courts and departmental positions that could have easily been left for the incoming governor. Particularly given the precedent set by Senator McConnell in the first paragraph above ^^^^.
So when the Republicans say they are doing something ‘for the people’, I guess I have to look just a little askance!
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