NEW ORLEANS — Ideally, we probably want principled politicians. Realistically, we have some politicians that won’t stick to their own principles.
This is what republican Senator Mitch McConnell said four years ago.
“Of course, the American people should have a say in the court’s direction,” said Senator McConnell, R-Kentucky.
Back then, he and other GOP members argued that eight months from a presidential election was not the time for then President Obama to fill a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. They eventually blocked the confirmation. Republican Senator Lindsey graham felt so strongly about it in 2016, he oddly predicted the future.
“If there’s a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term you can say Lindsey Graham said let’s let the next President, whoever it may might be, make that nomination. You can use my words against me, and you would be absolutely right,” said Sen. Graham, R-South Carolina in 2016.
Of course, Graham is singing another tune today. Now, only six weeks from a Presidential election, Republicans are trying to pave the way for a confirmation of President Trump’s nominee to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
“I’m a bit dismayed, but I’m not surprised because politics is about power and if you have the power and you have the ability to make that decision, you’re going to do it,” said Ed Chervenak.
Chervenak is political scientist at the University of New Orleans. He says the opportunity to select a judge for the country’s highest court is too great of a prize for politicians to want to be consistent.
This goes for Democrats too. In 2016, Democrats like Senator Chuck Schumer said Republicans were unfairly blocking Obama’s pick. After the death of Ginsburg, Schumer says Republicans should go back to their 2016 position instead of fast tracking a candidate.
“It’s shoving the wishes of the hard right and the Republicans who go along with them down America’s throat,” said Sen. Schumer, D-NY.
Two Republican senators are urging for a confirmation after the election. A total of four Republican defections could stop it all together.
“Whether any more defect is still up in the air, and that’s what Mitch McConnell has to be concerned about. If he doesn’t have the votes, he will not bring it to the floor,” Chervenak said.
The two Republican Senators from Louisiana, John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy, have not made statements on their positions on the SCOTUS confirmation process. Both have consistently voted in favor of the President’s policies. An election initially thought to be a referendum on the President’s handling of the pandemic, now involves a seat on the Supreme Court.
A year that has already seen so much just got more consequential.
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