If Senate Republicans go through with confirming a new Supreme Court justice to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg, they won’t automatically be hypocrites.
Republicans in 2016 made clear one key detail — there was a divided government. President Barack Obama, was a Democrat. The Senate was controlled by Republicans.
Fast forward four years and you have a Republican president with a Republican-controlled Senate. Voters gave the GOP their blessing through this term. That blessing doesn’t end a few months short.
President Trump has been crystal clear in his potential Supreme Court picks since running for President. It’s one of the biggest reasons he was elected. In fact, he recently updated that list just last week.
So to say the process has to start from scratch isn’t entirely accurate.
There is zero reason to believe if Democrats controlled the Senate that they would do anything different than what Republicans did in 2016. And there is zero reason to believe if Democrats controlled the Senate AND the President was a Democrat, they wouldn’t move on a replacement.
Sen. Ted Cruz brings up a good point in regards to the risk of having an eight-person Supreme Court when Hillary Clinton advised Joe Biden not to accept the results of the election no matter what.
Lawyers are lined up ready to litigate the results of the 2020 election if necessary.
There are factors to be weighed — though they shouldn’t determine what action isn taken.
How will filling the seat before the election impact the results? Will people view it as the President and the Senate just doing their jobs, or will they be disappointed not to be given the chance to weigh in?
Of course, they had their chance to weigh in already — twice. The first chance was the 2016 Presidential Election and the second was the 2018 election to determine control of the U.S. Senate.
There is also reason to believe leaving the seat vacant could have a positive impact for Republicans. Suddenly the most important consequence of the election will be the next justice. This issue likely played a huge role in Trump’s 2016 surprise.
Many variables could go into this decision, but ultimately it should come down to what is right.
Republicans hold the White House. Republicans hold the Senate.
They were given control by the voters.
Period.
President Trump wasn’t given control for three years and eight months. The Senate wasn’t given control for one year and eight months.
They were given full control to last throughout the full terms.
Knowing what could be in store should the Democrats win the White House and the Senate in 2020 (and I predict if Biden wins the Presidency, Democrats will win the Senate), then Republicans cannot let this opportunity pass them by.
Due to Trump’s list of justices being in public and Republicans having been given the blessing of the American people to fulfill any openings to the Supreme Court in the present day, it is prudent for the GOP to appoint the next Supreme Court Justice of the United States of America.
