Category: SCOTUS

Romney Says He Will Support Senate Vote On Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee

Posted on by John Hanson

On Tuesday, Senator Mitt Romney announced he will support a Senate vote on President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.

The move may come as a surprise to conservatives, as Romney is viewed by many to be anti-Trump.

Romney: ‘I intend To Vote Based Upon Their Qualifications’

Romney said in a statement, “My decision regarding a Supreme Court nomination is not the result of a subjective test of ‘fairness’ which, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

“It is based on the immutable fairness of following the law, which in this case is the Constitution and precedent.”

Romney’s statement noted there is nothing hypocritical about the move:

“The historical precedent of election year nominations is that the Senate generally does not confirm an opposing party’s nominee but does confirm a nominee of its own.”

“The Constitution gives the president the power to nominate and the Senate the authority to provide advice and consent on Supreme Court nominees,” Romney’s statement continued.

“Accordingly, I intend to follow the Constitution and precedent in considering the president’s nominee. If the nominee reaches the Senate floor, I intend to vote based upon their qualifications,” he added.

RELATED: Joe Biden Says Voters Shouldn’t Know Who He Would Appoint To Supreme Court

Republican Senator Gardner Signals Support For Trump Nomination

Romney’s statement comes in the wake of Republican Senator Cory Gardner’s announcement Monday that he will vote to confirm Trump’s nominee if the President’s pick meets his criteria.

“I have and will continue to support judicial nominees who will protect our Constitution, not legislate from the bench, and uphold the law,” Gardner said in a statement.

“Should a qualified nominee who meets this criteria be put forward, I will vote to confirm.”

Republican Senators Murkowski And Collins Do Not Support Vote

However, moderate Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins have said they want whoever is president after the November election to make the SCOTUS pick.

They rationalized that this is what Republicans did in 2016 with then-President Barack Obama’s choice of Judge Merrick Garland right before that year’s election.

“I did not support taking up a nomination eight months before the 2016 election to fill the vacancy created by the passing of Justice [Antonin] Scalia,” Sen. Murkowski said in a statement.

“We are now even closer to the 2020 election, less than two months out, and I believe the same standard must apply.”

RELATED: Susan Collins Says She Opposes Voting On SCOTUS Nominee – What Is Wrong With This ‘Republican?’

Sen. Collins said the vacancy should ultimately be filled by whoever wins between Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden on November 3.

Romney Supports A vote – But How Will HE Vote?

It should be noted that while Romney said he supports a vote on Trump’s SCOTUS nominee, he did not indicate whether or not he would vote for that choice himself.

Being Mitt Romney, that could go either way.

The former Massachusetts Governor turned Utah Senator has a long history in the “Never Trump” movement.

Beginning in 2016, Romney declared his allegiance to Never Trump with a speech urging against Trump as the Republican nominee for President.

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“Think of Donald Trump’s personal qualities, the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third grade theatrics,” Romney said then.

The Senator also ran a fake Twitter account to attack Trump, using the name “Pierre Delecto.”

Most recently, Romney voted to convict President Trump in his impeachment trial.

The Trump administration has announced the President should make his nominee announcement on Saturday.

The post Romney Says He Will Support Senate Vote On Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee appeared first on The Political Insider.

Tucker Exposes Democrats’ Plan To Stop Trump’s SCOTUS Pick – ‘Burn The Entire F***ing Thing Down’

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson called out the media and Democrats threatening to ‘burn the entire thing down’ as a means to stop President Trump’s Supreme Court nomination.

While most were calling to honor and revere Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the occasion of her passing, Carlson notes that the left was not.

“Prominent progressives immediately descended into hysteria and rage – unbridled rage,” he said during Monday’s monologue.

Carlson insists the commentary coming from the left shows they truly believe that RBG’s death has “imperiled this country’s freedoms.”

That she had “single-handedly kept America from descending into fascism and tyranny.”

They believe this in their hearts. And that makes them quite dangerous.

RELATED: Rush Limbaugh: Skip the Senate Hearings And Go Straight To A Vote On Trump’s SCOTUS Nominee

To Stop Trump, Democrats Want to ‘Burn the Whole Thing Down’

After explaining the left’s mindset, Tucker proceeded to point out their obvious demands. Demands you can see in their very own words and actions.

“Democrats have an alternative argument at the ready and it’s one they’ve been honing all year,” he explained.

“It goes like this,” revealed Carlson. “‘Do what we want or we will hurt you.'”

It didn’t start with the fight to stop President Trump’s SCOTUS pick.

In fact, for months now in Democrat-led cities, violence has been raging supposedly in the name of racial justice.

‘Defund the police or we will hurt you.’

WATCH Tucker’s monologue here:

Does anybody remember that? Does anyone remember how Democrats during that time refused to denounce the violence?

Now America is on the verge of seeing even more violence over a Supreme Court nomination. A nomination the Constitution directs President Trump to make.

But, just as Carlson said, even this message of violence involving the Court has been looming all year.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), in March, threatened Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh with violence.

“I want to tell you Gorsuch, I want to tell you Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price,” Schumer railed, pointing a stern finger.

“You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”

Message sent: Democrats are okay with violence if Supreme Court matters don’t go their way.

‘Give us what we want or we will hurt you.’

RELATED: AOC, Pelosi Hint Impeachment Should Be Considered To Stop Trump Supreme Court Selection

More Signs Pointing to Democrat Violence

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Monday warned that Democrats will try “every conceivable dirty trick” to prevent Trump’s nominee from going forward.

If you don’t believe McConnell and Carlson, then you need only listen to the unhinged rhetoric coming from our friends in the media and the Democrat party.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have indicated they would use impeachment – a tactic reserved for high crimes and misdemeanors – to stop the SCOTUS pick.

Schumer, the same guy who has threatened justices with violence, nodded along in agreement.

President Trump dared them to do it.

Then you have the liberal lunatics pervading the media and entertainment industries.

Reza Aslan, a former personality at CNN who is known for voicing his desire to punch a teenager, called on rioters to “burn the entire f***ing thing down.”

“That effing thing being our country,” Carlson responded. “That we built.”

Aslan also threatened civil war essentially, responding to McConnell’s announcement that Trump’s nominee will receive a vote with, “over our dead bodies.”

If you thought he was kidding, Aslan added, “literally.”

Beau Willimon, the man behind the American version of ‘House of Cards,’ threatened to shut the country down.

Emmett MacFarlane, a professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, reiterated threats to burn America down.

Don’t think words will lead to actions? Consider the fact that liberal anarchists spent the last few months setting fires to and looting businesses in several cities across America.

Now consider that they’ve already begun harassing Republican Senators in their homes.

Not only have Schumer and the media authorized their followers to engage in violence, but AOC is also demanding they become ‘radicalized’ over the President’s SCOTUS pick.

“Let this moment radicalize you.”

Remember those words. Play them in your head while watching footage of the devastation in Democrat cities over the last few months.

And realize they are coming again.

“The Democrat party has encouraged this extremism over and over and over again,” Carlson said.

Is there any reason to think it will be different this time around?

The post Tucker Exposes Democrats’ Plan To Stop Trump’s SCOTUS Pick – ‘Burn The Entire F***ing Thing Down’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

Romney makes up new ‘precedent’ to say he’ll vote on a Trump Supreme Court nominee

Posted on by Joan McCarter

Sen. Willard Mitt Romney, the Republican from Utah who broke ranks with Republicans to vote to convict Donald Trump on one of the articles of impeachment, abuse of power, has snapped back into line when it matters most: a Trump Supreme Court nominee. He says his decision isn’t based on “a subjective test of ‘fairness’ which, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder,” but on “the Constitution and precedent.” And then makes up some real bullshit on precedent: "The historical precedent of election year nominations is that the Senate generally does not confirm an opposing party’s nominee but does confirm a nominee of its own." Except for when a Democratic Senate confirmed Ronald Reagan’s nominee, Anthony Kennedy, in 1988. 

“The historical precedent of election year nominations is that the Senate generally does not confirm an opposing party’s nominee but does confirm a nominee of its own,” he says. Historical precedent set by Mitch McConnell in 2016 in order to steal a Supreme Court seat from President Barack Obama. Maybe in the future we’ll have to call it the Romney Doctrine, just to cement for history how pathetic he is. 

This means McConnell has the votes. He doesn’t know (supposedly) the nominee yet, but he’s got the votes. It’s worth noting that he’s been sitting on the HEROES Act coronavirus relief bill for four months without acting, but will try to push a Supreme Court nominee in five weeks. It means that Sen. Susan Collins now has permission from McConnell to vote against the nominee, if she thinks that will save her pathetic political skin, because he doesn’t need her vote. It will be too little, too late for Collins, but that’s what will happen. 

It's about saving the country. Simple as that. Donate now to help bring it back to the White House and Senate.

Trump Dares Pelosi To Try To Impeachment Again: ‘Go Ahead’

Posted on by John Hanson

On Monday, President Donald Trump addressed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refusing to rule out impeachment to prevent him from nominating a judge to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court.

“Go ahead. I want them to do that,” Trump said to supporters during a rally in Ohio.

Democratic Leaders Line Up To Threaten Impeachment Over Trump Supreme Court Pick

“I’m the only guy in the world that could get impeached for trying to fill a seat on the Supreme Court,” Trump said.

RELATED: President Trump: If Dems Use Impeachment To Block Supreme Court Nomination, “We Win”

Pelosi told the New York Times on Monday that it was within her power to try to impeach Trump again.

“Well, we can impeach him every day of the week for anything he does,” Pelosi said.

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos also asked Pelosi on Sunday during an interview if she would rule out impeachment after she said that every tool at her disposal would be considered to stop Trump’s Supreme Court pick from being confirmed.

Chuck Schumer And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Chime In

“We have our options,” Pelosi said. “We have arrows in our quiver that I’m not about to discuss right now, but the fact is we have a big challenge in our country.”

Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a similar comment alongside Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer during a press conference on Sunday night.

“I believe that also we must consider, again all of the tools available in our disposal and that all of these options should be entertained and on the table,” AOC said.

Schumer nodded in agreement.

Yes, if necessary

No, it's a gross abuse of power

Trump Has Gotten To Nominate Three SCOTUS Justices In First Term

During his rally Monday, Trump noted the ridiculousness of the Democrats reaction to the new SCOTUS vacancy.

“Think of that. Three,” Trump said, referring to how many nomination opportunities he has had in his first term.

“A lot of presidents get none. We’ve had three,” Trump added. “It’s blowing their minds.”

RELATED: Trump Once Again Outmaneuvers Pelosi And Schumer

Trump: ‘If Joe Biden And The Democrats Take Power, They Will Pack The Supreme Court With Far-Left Radicals’

President Trump also warned that he believes Democrats would pack the Supreme Court with additional justices if former Vice President Joe Biden wins in November.

“If Joe Biden and the Democrats take power, they will pack the Supreme Court with far-left radicals who will unilaterally transform American society far beyond recognition,” Trump said.

“They will mutilate the law, disfigure the constitution, and impose a socialist vision from the bench that could never pass at the ballot box,” the President added.

The post Trump Dares Pelosi To Try To Impeachment Again: ‘Go Ahead’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

Graham: ‘We’ve Got The Votes To Confirm Justice Ginsburg’s Replacement Before The Election’ 

Posted on by John Hanson

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham said Monday night that Senate Republicans have “the votes to confirm Justice Ginsburg’s replacement before the election.”

The Republican also said that the Senate Judiciary Committee will report the nomination so there can be a vote on Trump’s nominee on the Senate floor before the election.

He also noted that Republicans will confirm Ginsburg’s replacement before November 3rd.

RELATED: What Ginsburg Said Four Years Ago About Filling A SCOTUS Vacancy During An Election Year

Graham: ‘We’ve Got The Votes’

Graham made his comments on Monday’s “Hannity” on Fox News, where he also promised all the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee would vote for the nominee to replace Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.

“We’ve got the votes to confirm Justice Ginsburg’s replacement before the election,” Graham told Sean Hannity.

“We’re going to move forward in the committee. We’re going to report the nomination out of the committee to the floor of the United States Senate so we can vote before the election.”

“That’s the constitutional process,” Graham noted.

Graham Vows He And Republicans Won’t Be Intimidated By The Left

The senator continued, “After Kavanaugh, everything changed with me. They’re not going to intimidate me, Mitch McConnell, or anybody else.”

“The nominee is going to be supported by every Republican in the Judiciary Committee, and we’ve got the votes to confirm the judge — the justice on the floor of the Senate before the election,” Graham insisted.

“And that’s what’s coming,” he vowed.

The night before Graham made his comments to Hannity, protesters gathered outside the senator’s Washington, DC residence to demand he not confirm a replacement for Ginsburg.

RELATED: Trump Fires Back After Obama Says He Shouldn’t Fill SCOTUS Vacancy

Expect The Left’s Shrill Reaction To Get Worse

Given the tone and even violent aggressiveness of today’s left, this was not surprising.

And as President Trump and Republicans continue to go through the process of what the Constitution demands when a Supreme Court seat becomes vacant, expect the left’s reaction to become increasingly worse.

We are already seeing it from Democrat leaders.

They have threatened to pack the courts.

They have threatened to impeach the president for merely doing his Constitutionally-prescribed job.

Left-wing liberals like CNN commentator Resa Azlan have threatened to burn down the country.

It will get worse from here.

The post Graham: ‘We’ve Got The Votes To Confirm Justice Ginsburg’s Replacement Before The Election’  appeared first on The Political Insider.

President Trump: If Dems Use Impeachment To Block Supreme Court Nomination, “We Win”

Posted on by Jack Hadfield

President Donald Trump said on Monday that if the Democrats use an impeachment attempt to block his Supreme Court nomination, he will win the election.

Pelosi: “We Have Arrows In Our Quiver”

In an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was challenged as to whether the Democrats would use impeachment as a method to stop the President from nominating somebody to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.

“We have our options. We have arrows in our quiver that I’m not about to discuss right now, but the fact is we have a big challenge in our country,” Pelosi told Stephanopoulos. “This president has threatened to not even accept the results of the election.”

“Our main goal would be to protect the integrity of the election as we protect the people from the coronavirus,” she added. Pelosi was questioned again as to whether she would use impeachment tactics. She replied that the Constitution requires that Congress “use every arrow in our quiver.”

“We have a responsibility,” she continued. “We take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. We have a responsibility to meet the needs of the American people.”

Trump: “If They Do That, We Win All Elections”

This did not impress President Trump, who shot back during an interview with Fox and Friends on Monday. “I heard if I [nominate someone for the Supreme Court], they’re going to impeach me,” President Trump said.

“So they’re impeaching me for doing what constitutionally I have to do,” he added. “If they do that, we win all elections.”

If they go ahead with impeachment in retaliation for the Supreme Court, President Trump thinks that his “numbers will go up.”

“I think we’ll win the entire election,” he concluded. “I think we’re going to win back the House, I think we’re going to win the House anyway.”

He’s On The Up Already – Impeachment Will Only Assist His Numbers!

I have to agree with the President’s analysis. Why? His numbers are already on the up, all across the board. He’s closing the gap on the overall polling average between him and Joe Biden to 6 points overall, down from 9 in August.

He’s 8 points more trusted on the economy than Biden, which is one of the most important issues in this election, especially during these uncertain times. Both Hispanic and black voters are turning on Biden, with the President seeing a rise in support in both of those demographics.

A second impeachment attempt would only gain him more support. The American people are tired of Democrat politicians wasting time on meaningless politicing, ESPECIALLY now that this country is going through the coronavirus pandemic.

They’d be fools to go through impeachment again.

The post President Trump: If Dems Use Impeachment To Block Supreme Court Nomination, “We Win” appeared first on The Political Insider.

Rush Limbaugh: Skip the Senate Hearings And Go Straight To A Vote On Trump’s SCOTUS Nominee

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Rush Limbaugh toyed with the idea that Senate Republicans skip the confirmation hearings for President Trump’s next Supreme Court nominee.

Limbaugh, a conservative radio host, mentioned the idea during his Monday broadcast.

He believes whoever the nominee is, Democrats will be planning to drag their name through the mud, just as they did with other Republican presidential nominees.

“I want the Judiciary Committee — I think it’d be great if it were skipped,” suggested Limbaugh.

“We don’t need to open that up for whatever length of time so that whoever this nominee is can be Kavanaughed or Borked or Thomased,” he added. “Because that’s what it’s gonna be, especially when it’s not even required.”

RELATED: FBI Agent Who Discovered Hillary’s Emails On Anthony Weiner’s Laptop Claims He Was Told to Erase His Own Computer

Rush Limbaugh Explains Why Republicans Should Skip SCOTUS Hearings

Aside from noting that the next nominee to the court will have their lives turned upside down by Democrats, Limbaugh believes there is no requirement dictating hearings must be held.

“You know, I mentioned that the Judiciary Committee does not have to do its thing. It’s become a tradition, but it’s not a requirement,” he explained.

“Why not just blow up another tradition? Because, I’ll tell you, that’s how we’re gonna maintain the ones that matter,” continued Limbaugh.

“They have to be defeated. This Supreme Court seat has to be confirmed, it has to be named and confirmed before the election.”

The United States Senate website on nominations states that the practice was not initially common:

“In the 19th century, the Senate referred few nominations to committees. Since the mid-20th century, committee referral has become routine and most nominees testify at Senate hearings.”

Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution alludes to the “advice and consent of the Senate” being required.

The president “shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for…”

The Senate site notes that this section though, “has inspired widely varying interpretations” of its meaning.

RELATED: AOC, Pelosi Hint Impeachment Should Be Considered To Stop Trump Supreme Court Selection

SCOTUS Process Was Always Going to Come Back to Haunt Dems

If holding confirmation hearings in the Senate is nothing more than a tradition, we see no reason for President Trump not to ‘blow it up.’

For two reasons:

1. Democrats are already threatening to blow up the process by using impeachment – a process reserved for ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ – as a means to stop Trump’s nominee.

2. Is there any doubt that the resistance party would take any action necessary the moment they have power again? Please.

In 2017, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell triggered the so-called ‘nuclear option’ after Democrats filibustered the nomination of  Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.

Doing so abolished the 60-vote requirement for nominees, something the Democrats themselves instituted for other judicial nominees under the leadership of Harry Reid in 2013.

And McConnell warned him not to do it …

“You’ll regret this, and you may regret this a lot sooner than you think,” McConnell warned from the Senate floor.

Gorsuch, and later Brett Kavanaugh, were both beneficiaries of the ‘nuclear option’ being invoked.

It will certainly come into play with Trump’s selection to fill the vacancy left by the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

We have Democrats to thank for the controversial tactic. Now Limbaugh wants to see Republicans toss out another archaic tradition. Should they do it?

The post Rush Limbaugh: Skip the Senate Hearings And Go Straight To A Vote On Trump’s SCOTUS Nominee appeared first on The Political Insider.

What Ginsberg Said Four Years Ago About Filling A SCOTUS Vacancy During An Election Year

Posted on by John Hanson

While liberals continue to circulate and praise the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s “fervent wish” that her seat isn’t filled until after the November election, they have not been as eager to share what she thought about filling vacancies to the nation’s highest court before the 2016 presidential election.

When the GOP blocked former President Obama’s pick of Merrick Garland to fill the late Antonin Scalia’s seat through Republican-controlled Senate, Ginsburg instructed them to proceed with reviewing the nomination.

RELATED: AOC, Pelosi Hint Impeachment Should Be Considered To Stop Trump Supreme Court Selection

Most Democrats Believed The 2016 SCOTUS Vacancy Should Have Been Filled Before The Election

“That’s their job,” Ginsburg said to The New York Times. “There’s nothing in the Constitution that says the president stops being president in his last year.”

Then-President Barack Obama said basically the same thing in 2016.

“When there is a vacancy on the Supreme Court, the president is to nominate someone, the Senate is to consider that nomination'” Obama said. “There’s no unwritten law that says that it can only be done on off-years.” That’s not in the Constitution text.”

Biden Said In 2016 That Not Appointing A SCOTUS Justice Could Result In A ‘Constitutional Crisis’

Not surprisingly, 2020 Democratic nominee Joe Biden is now saying filling Ginsburg’s vacant SCOTUS seat should wait until after the election, though in 2016, the then-vice president believed that blocking Garland might result in a “constitutional crisis.”

Hillary Clinton also believes the nomination process should wait – but that’s not what she necessarily thought about Garland’s appointment four years ago.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said before the 2016 election, “Every day that goes by without a ninth justice is another day the American people’s business is not getting done.”

 

The Republican National Committee shared a video on Sunday with examples of what Democratic leaders were saying in 2016 about filling a seat during an election year.

 

Cruz Agrees With Biden (Four Years Ago) – Failure To Nominate A Justice Could Lead To A ‘Constitutional Crisis’

Sen. Ted Cruz – similar to Democrats in 2016 – worries that an eight-member court hading into the election could pose a “constitutional crisis.”

“Democrats and Joe Biden have made clear they intend to challenge this election,” Cruz said Friday on Fox News “Hannity.”

“They intend to fight the legitimacy of the election,” he said. “As you know, Hillary Clinton has told Joe Biden ‘under no circumstances should you concede, you should challenge this election.’”

RELATED: Trump Fires Back After Obama Says He Shouldn’t Fill SCOTUS Vacancy

“And we cannot have Election Day come and go with a 4-4 Court,” Cruz told Sean Hannity.

“A 4-4 Court that is equally divided cannot decide anything,” the senator continued. “And I think we risk a constitutional crisis if we do not have a nine-justice Supreme Court, particularly when there is such a risk of … a contested election.”

The post What Ginsberg Said Four Years Ago About Filling A SCOTUS Vacancy During An Election Year appeared first on The Political Insider.

David Frum: Don’t assume McConnell has the votes to confirm

Posted on by Aldous J Pennyfarthing

Last night and this morning, I felt like crawling into a hole for the next 40 days or so. And not a deep hole. I didn’t have the energy or joie de vivre for a deep hole. It would have been a shallow hole. Barely a hole at all. Really, I would have just lay down in the dirt until my DNA fused to the worms’ and slugs’ and grasses’ much more upbeat genetic material.

But I’m a more resilient guy ever since I got into therapy and on antidepressants (I recommend both if you’re struggling). And this morning a friend sent me this Atlantic story from former George W. Bush speechwriter and confirmed NeverTrumper David Frum.

He makes some excellent points (one of them being, don't swallow your tongue in abject, pants-shitting fear just yet):

What McConnell did in 2016 was an assertion of brute power, and what he proposes in 2020 is another assertion of brute power. And so the question arises: Does McConnell in fact have the power he asserts?

The answer may be no, for four reasons.

Do tell, David Frum:

The polls do not favor Susan Collins, Cory Gardner, or Thom Tillis—senators from Maine, Colorado, and North Carolina up for reelection this cycle. Yet these competitors may not be ready to attend their own funerals. They may regard voting against McConnell's Court grab as a heaven-sent chance to prove their independence from an unpopular president—and to thereby save their own seats.

Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has also made skeptical noises, and even Lindsey Graham of South Carolina may flinch. He faces an unexpectedly tough race this year, and he is extra-emphatically on the record vowing not to support a Supreme Court confirmation vote in the later part of a presidential year.

Frum also asks if Trump can find a woman nominee (Trump almost needs to nominate a woman to replace the legendary RBG, lest his female support erode even further) at the 11th hour who will be viewed as moderate enough by the senators who could be thinking of defecting.

Any last-minute Trump nominee will face a gantlet of opposition in the Senate, a firestorm of opposition in the country, and probably a lifetime of suspicion from the majority of the country.

Can McConnell and Trump find an appointee willing to risk all that for the chance—but not the guarantee—of a Supreme Court seat? Specifically, can they find a woman willing to do it? The optics of replacing Ginsburg with a man may be too ugly even for the Trump administration. And if they can find a woman, can they find a woman sufficiently moderate-seeming to provide cover to anxious senators? The task may prove harder than immediately assumed.

In addition, Yertle the Asshole’s hypocrisy on this issue is so egregiously off the charts it might create a mutually assured destruction scenario in which Democrats (assuming Biden wins and Dems retake the Senate) feel justified in packing the court by, say, adding two more justices.

But a last-minute overreach by McConnell could seem so illegitimate to Democrats as to justify radical countermoves should they win in November: increasing the number of appellate judges and Supreme Court justices; conceivably even opening impeachment hearings against Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

McConnell may want the win badly enough to dismiss those risks. But many conservative-leaning lawyers in the country may be more cautious. And their voices will get a hearing in a contentious nomination fight—not only by the national media, but by some of the less Trump-y Republican senators. This could be enough to slow down a process that has no time to spare.

I think Frum makes some great points, and anything that will keep me from reaching for the shovel is welcome news right now.

So let’s breathe, and keep fighting on.

A Democratic Senate has never been more important. Make it so.

“This guy is a natural. Sometimes I laugh so hard I cry." — Bette Midler on Aldous J. Pennyfarthing, via Twitter. Find out what made dear Bette break up. Dear F*cking Lunatic: 101 Obscenely Rude Letters to Donald Trump and its boffo sequels Dear Pr*sident A**clown: 101 More Rude Letters to Donald Trump and Dear F*cking Moron: 101 More Letters to Donald Trump by Aldous J. Pennyfarthing are now available for a song! Click those links, yo!

It’s time to get in Good Trouble to preserve the legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Posted on by Mark Sumner

Of course we’re crying. A woman who held us all up for so, so long has finally laid down her burden after the literal fight of a lifetime. We’re hurting. We’re afraid. We miss her already. 

But Republicans are already celebrating the death of pioneering Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as an opportunity. Donald Trump is calling on Republicans to act quickly to confirm whatever nominee he puts forward. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is contemplating whether a no-witnesses impeachment can be topped with a no-hearings confirmation. Ted Cruz is thinking about nothing except what he won’t be wearing under that black robe. Tom Cotton is speeding through his collection of KKK-approved all-white handkerchiefs mopping up all of the drool. And Josh Hawley is … probably shooting something.

There is absolutely no doubt that the GOP will now engage in the Hypocrisy Olympics, working hard to master the art of the 180-degree turn and racing to put Trump’s nominee across the line in record time. But a mere willingness start a hell-in-a-handbasket assembly line may not be enough to put another butt in Ginsburg’s seat on the Court before it even has a chance to cool. Democrats are not about to roll over. This is a fight worth having.

2020 may have robbed us of both Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Rep. John Lewis, but it’s time to get in Good Trouble. And there are multiple ways to fight.

“From where I sit, Ruth Bader Ginsburg's dying wish was not that McConnell would do the right thing. She knew he wouldn't. It was that we would FIGHT LIKE HELL to preserve her legacy.” — Elie Mystal, The Nation

Hillary Clinton has offered a three-part plan for fighting against the rapid replacement of Justice Ginsburg: 

1) Win over GOP Senators on principle.

There are dozens of Republicans who barely finished articulating why there could not be a nomination for a Justice during an election year. Not only did many of them voice this in 2016, some of them have continued to do so over the last four years in the most adamant terms; terms that having included things like “even if this was a Republican president.” It’s included telling America to “use my words against me” if they didn’t hold true to this claim. It may seem that there are no Republicans left willing to stand up for any principle, especially one they created out of convenience in the last election cycle, but that feeds right into the next point.

2) Pressure GOP Senators in tight re-election bids.

There are definitely Republicans in red states who will feel like falling in line behind Trump and McConnell is the only option. But there are also those—like Susan Collins—who are already finding that standing too close to Trump is leaving them with radiation burns. Push them. Make this an issue. There’s absolutely no doubt that, no matter who Trump nominates, it will be some Federalist Society-approved ultraconservative, ready to tear down everything Justice Ginsburg accomplished and paint the nation in a shade of industrial repression gray. Make it clear that anyone voting for Trump’s nominee—anyone who even supports a vote on Trump’s nominee—is supporting the reversal of every gain made under Ginsburg. 

3) Use procedural obstacles in the Senate.

There are not nearly as many obstacles here as there used to be, because the idea that the Senate runs on rules has been simply discarded by McConnell—who regularly discards the idea of regular order to simply do as he pleases. Still, there are some shreds remaining. To start with, Democrats must refuse  a continuing resolution so long as there is any threat of McConnell forwarding a nominee. Unless there is a binding agreement—an agreement that goes way beyond McConnell’s word—shut it all the #$%@ down. In addition, Democrats must deny the Senate unanimous consent. Not just unanimous consent on the nomination, but on everything. The Senate has less than two weeks of scheduled sessions in the remainder of the year. Democrats need to deploy every possible roadblock to scheduling hearings, holding hearings, bringing a nominee forward, scheduling a vote … these are delaying tactics, and there’s little doubt that McConnell will run over them all. Only, if the polls start to show that Americans aren’t happy about the nominee or the process, McConnell might start to lose some of these procedural votes.

And Americans are already not happy.

In Times/Siena polls of Maine, North Carolina and Arizona released Friday, voters preferred Mr. Biden to select the next Supreme Court justice by 12 percentage points, 53 percent to 41 percent. In each of the three states, Mr. Biden led by just a slightly wider margin on choosing the next justice than he did over all.

According to that poll, the desire to see Biden pick the nominee is actually higher than the base support for Biden. This could very well mean that the importance of this issue gets driven home to Republicans up for reelection in a very visible way.

But if any of the above is going to happen, it’s also going to have to happen in the streets, on the phones, and in every forum where Democrats—and everyone else—can make it clear that the legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg must be preserved at all cost. She carried us this far. Now we have to carry her dream.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s body isn’t even cold and Mitch McConnell is dancing on her grave. This is war. Dems have powerful weapons. Now is the time to use them.

— Rob Reiner (@robreiner) September 19, 2020