Most of you are aware that following the passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the shoot out at the OK Congress is underway as President Obama promises to nominate a replacement justice and the US Senate promises to ignore the appointment.
The Senate Majority Leader is standing firm against President Obama’s pledge to nominate a replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Today, Mitch McConnell said the Senate will not confirm a Supreme Court nominee from President Obama during his last year in office.
But that might be very bad advice from Senator McConnell. Particularly in light of Donald Trump’s ascendancy in the GOP presidential campaign. Something that the oligarchs in the party are finally starting to fear, but Senator McConnell is working on that:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is advising vulnerable Republican senators to break with Donald Trump if he wins the GOP nomination, according to a bombshell New York Times report Saturday.
That would include Wisconsin’s Senator Ron Johnson.
McConnell has reportedly advised Republicans that they can run ads against Trump to create separation from the polarizing GOP frontrunner if they believe it can help their reelection efforts.
The majority leader is also preparing to pitch the Senate as a necessary check to an inevitable Hillary Clinton presidency if Trump is the GOP’s nominee, according to the Times.
Trump has won three of the four first presidential primaries and leads in most states voting on Super Tuesday, which could virtually cement his lead.
Well all well and good…but assuming a Democrat, either Senator Sanders or former Secretary of State Clinton is elected in November…the chances of getting a Supreme Court nominee to Senator McConnell’s liking are slim to none…with none getting the point spread in Vegas.
And with a Democratic victory there is a good possibility the GOP will lose their 54 to 46 majority in the Senate and won’t be able to stop a very liberal nomination at any cost.
So what should a Senate Majority Leader do in this situation? Take an Obama appointment and run with it. Hell the President was all but finished naming Nevada Republican Governor Brian Sandoval to the vacant seat…that is before Governor Sandoval withdrew his name. Like always the President dodges chances to build his legacy in an attempt to work with the other side (that’s why we have Obamacare instead of Medicare for All for instance).
President Obama reportedly is considering nominating Nevada Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval to the Supreme Court to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
The nomination of a Republican would be seen as an attempt by Obama to break the Senate GOP blockade of any of his choices. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said his 54-member GOP caucus is opposed to holding confirmation hearings or vote on Obama’s pick, insisting that the choice rests with the next president.
The White House’s consideration of Sandoval was first reported by The Washington Post and the Associated Press. The Post reported that Senate Republicans reaffirmed their vow to not consider any Obama nominee, regardless of party affiliation.
So the Senate still has some leverage on a SCOTUS appointment…they can actually get President Obama to appoint someone fairly moderate at this point…they should take him up on it…instead Senator McConnell, et al. are willing to fritter the chance away:
“This is not about the personality,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, told the paper. McConnell said in a statement to the Post that whoever replaces Scalia “will be determined by whoever wins the presidency in the fall.”
At this point, I am almost willing to accept Republican recalcitrance and hope for an extremely liberal appointment once the Democrats win the White House again and take back the Senate! If I was Senator McConnell, I’d accept a reasonable appointment now and avoid being totally embarrassed next January!
Well thought out and argued, Ed. Regarding Sandoval, I’d bet that he received a call from McConnell informing him that if he accepted the nomination his career would be over. McConnell will keep his heels dug in until the repub convention. After Trump gets the nomination, and the prospect of losing the Senate locks in, McConnell will back off and accept a “reasonable” nominee from Obama. It would be completely absurd for Senate leadership to tell their exposed candidates to cut and run against Trump while also trying block a nomination. This is a strategy guaranteed to fail and all he’d have left is a filibuster, something that has never happened with a supreme court nominee. He’s walking a tightrope and he’s going to fall.
Coming at this from a slightly different angle of the SC nomination being an excellent smoke screen and useful distraction, the Wisconsin delegation of US Republican legislators who are now unwilling to discuss the fact that they (along with Obombya TPP cheerleader, US Republicon, Ron Kind (WI-03) ) voted to give the sorely hated POTUS fast track authority on the TPP, have absolutely shut up about it prior to the November elections. Hoping we’ll ignore that Paul Ryan (WI-$$) and then Sen Mitch McConnell will bring the TPP to those respective chamber floors during the lame duck session, allowing Kind and people like retiring Rep Reid Ribble (WI-08) to vote to give away US sovereignty to multi-national corporations and put the final nail in our democratic republic’s coffin.
I agree with Mitch if he agrees then, that neither lame duck legislators nor the lame duck POTUS should be allowed to approve anything or make any Federal policy or political appointments during the remainder of the legislative calendar between the elections and inauguration.
So wake up people and don’t lose sight of the other lead story here. TPP, up or down vote after the elections is Barry’s ultimate signature parting gift to us if he can swing it and makes our supreme court situation moot, as US sovereignty is surrendered totally to corporate control. We’ll be toast literally and figuratively. Look beyond the shiny object distractions here.