It has hardly been 24 hours the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and already there are battles brewing over whether she should be replaced before or after the elections due to take place in in 45 days. It is disgusting!
A justice on the highest court in the land has died. Could we not have had at least a weekend of national mourning before the President tweeted about the need to move quickly to replace her, or before the Senate Majority Leader promised to bring a nominee to a vote as quickly as possible. What kind of society have we become?
By any standards, Justice Ginsburg was a remarkable woman and an influential, barrier smashing jurist. Yet the haste with which Republican leaders announced they will be going ahead with a replacement makes it seem like they have been sitting on death watch, eager for this great woman to die. It is shameful!
Then there is the issue of fair play. On February 13, 2016, Justice Antonin Scalia passed away, 270 before the election. In March then-President Barack Obama nominated a judicial moderate, Merrick Garland, to replace him, but McConnell refused to hold hearings on his confirmation, arguing that Presidents should not appoint Supreme Court Justices in their last year of office.
Now they claim the situation is different. They say Obama was in his second term, but Trump is in his first. More importantly, they argue a mandate from the American people, saying they returned a Republican majority to the Senate in the 2018 mid-terms.
This is and absurd claim. The Republicans lost seats in that election, and the Democrats gained. True, they did not achieve a majority, but only 1/3 of the Senate is up for election every two years, so it was virtually impossible for the Democrats to take the majority in that election.
It is true that Trump is eligible for a second term, whereas Obama was not eligible for a third term, but President Obama’s approval rating was 48% when Scalia died. According to the same polling agency, Trump’s is only 42% today.
Though my politics are well known, I am not making a pollical argument here. I am making an argument about decency and fair play. If Trump wins and the Republicans maintain control in the Senate, then they will have every right to proceed quickly with the President’s nomination. But don’t the people of this country get a say?