Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s not entirely unexpected death is the liberals’ worst nightmare. For how many months have we dreaded turning on our devices to see the news that Ruth Bader Ginsburg had passed away? Nonetheless, Mitch McConnell is going to have to play this one very carefully. The President will likely want to ram through a conservative nominee to mobilize his base believing that he will benefit from a heated nomination battle. Moreover, if his plan is to contest the election in the courts Should he lose, he will want a reliable conservative vote on the court as insurance. McConnell is also licking his chops at another appointment opportunity. However with less than two months before a presidential election, McConnell’s notorious word from 2016 are echoing in the air, “ The American people should have a voice in the selection of the next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, the vavacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.” The American people are many things and believe in many. But most of all what they are is fair and believe rules should be applied equally. I think if he tries to ram it through before the election there will be a terrible backlash. I think that even those who may not have a strong feeling about the court, but believe what is good for the goose is good for the gander, will see such an attempt as patently unfair. Ultimately it will lead to the loss of the presidency and control of the Senate for the GOP.
Moreover, it’s not clear McConnell has the votes to get a nomination through the Senate. Several GOP Senators are behind in the polls. Some by a big margins others in a close fight. These include Susan Collins in Maine, Martha McSally in Arizona, Corey Gardner in Colorado, Tom Tillis in North Carolina, Steve Daines in Montana, Joni Ernst in Iowa and Leslie Graham is tied in South Carolina. Graham is also record as being against replacing a Supreme Court Justice in an election year. As Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, he would be responsible for the running the nomination hearing and his hypocrisy would be on parade front and center should he deviate from his word. These candidates are going to be loathe to cast a vote that will put their reelection at risk. Look at the Cavanaugh hearing in 2018, everyone though the nomination battle would benefit the GOP in the mid term elections. The wound up losing 40 seats in the House of Representatives and all kind of elections at the state level. Additionally other senators like Lisa Murkowski, and Charles Grassley are on record making similar statements as Graham. And then there is always Mitt Romney.
Assume that Biden wins, McConnell could try to fill the seat in the lame duck period after the election. However, if he goes this route there will be tremendous pressure on President-Elect Biden to expand the size of the Supreme Court, presuming the Democrats win control of the Senate, from his base. The Democrats will end the Senate filibuster and increase the size of the court to 13 to balance things out. I don’t think Biden wants to go this route, but he will find it difficult to resist the pressure under these circumstances.
If Trump wins re-election all bets are off.
Safe to say, buckle in now because the battle is just beginning.
It’s time we stop. Hey, what’s that sound? Everybody look what’s going down!
Tragedy and Farce 