The Republicans’ Refusal to Consider an Obama Nomine to the Supreme Court

   Antonin Scalia was not yet buried when the relevant Republican Senators, under the “leadership” of Mitch McConnell, have declared that they will not even consider for confirmation or rejection, any candidate for the Supreme Court whom President Obama submits to the Senate. Their alleged reason for this unprecedented move is that “the people” should have a “say” about such an appointment, via the election of the next president.

   Let me begin by noting that, as Garry Wills has shown persuasively and in detail, that the Constitution and recorded views by the Founders are quite clear that the people should not have a direct say about appointments to the highest court.¹ McConnell & Co will not loose any sleep on account of going against mere law and history.

   I note, further, that the odds are considerably better than 50-50 that the next president will be Hillary Clinton. This is not esoteric information available to me, but an opinion quite widely held by people better informed than I am about the future of politics in our country. And if this is so, the new (Democratic) president will make a nomination with much more oomph behind it, given her success in a recent election.

   What to conclude? Since I believe that the Republicans are at least as good as I am in gazing into the future, the “we want people to have a say” is not only wrong, but it is bullshit. The real McConnell motive is to oppose Obama, as an end in itself. McConnell is white, Obama is not: how dare he run the country for two presidential terms?

   And very well, too. In my view, he has been an excellent president in exceedingly difficult times. Unfortunately for him, schmoozing has become a value—not Obama’s forte.  That never used to be an issue, but it is now.

   The next president—presumably Hillary—should appoint Obama to the Supreme Court, when there is another opening—soon to happen. Obama may first want to make some money, but I hope that he will end his career as a Justice of the Supreme Court. 

¹http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2016/02/15/next-supreme-court-justice-not-up-to-us/