Vice President Joe Biden, who spent 36 years in the Senate, will enter the fray over President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee on Thursday, demanding that that his former colleagues not “spread this dysfunction” from Capitol Hill to the high court.
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But Moran’s support for hearings remains a significant break with the strategy that was laid out by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in the hours after Justice Antonin Scalia’s death and that has since been embraced by conservative activists.
“The Constitution requires the President to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court, and the Senate must at least consider the nomination”. Those remarks have been Exhibit A in Republican talking points against holding confirmation hearings for Garland. Biden warned President George H.W. Bush to hold off on a nomination.
That’s hardly a ringing endorsement of Judge Garland, but Moran’s comments suggest that McConnell’s absolutist tactics may create problems even for Republican senators in very safe seats.
In his opening statement introducing the panelists, law school Dean Paul Kirgis said the Supreme Court is always a topic of discussion during election years, but that this year the court “has taken center stage”. And he’s pressed the issue as he’s campaigned for Democrats in Seattle and Ohio. The Senate should immediately hold hearings, and unless these hearings turn up some unknown evidence that would disqualify him, vote to confirm Judge Garland to the United States Supreme Court. Democrats have certainly never vowed to block every nomination a Republican president would make.
Moran, the Republican senator, said earlier this week he would likely vote against an Obama nominee, but “I would rather have you (constituents) complaining to me that I voted wrong on nominating somebody than saying I’m not doing my job”, according to The Garden City (Kan.) Telegram. Kirk, Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., Susan Collins, R-Me., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.
The vice president said President Obama made a deliberate decision to consult with the Republican leadership and to tailor his choice, in part, to allay GOP concerns.
It should be noted that Mr. Kirk faces a strong challenge in November from Representative Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat.
Senate Republicans, who claim to be protectors of the Constitution, are trampling on that founding document. Supreme Court confirmations had become “dominated by the right” and hearings the summer before a presidential election would only lead to a “conflagration”, he said. He’s being challenged by Democratic U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth.
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Asked if the episode might encourage a conservative challenge to Moran, Christensen said, “I think this definitely raises concerns among conservatives”.
