Supreme Court Facts

 The Supreme Court gaslighting has begun!

The Republicans are emphasizing that 

(1) The president has the authority and responsibility to nominate someone to fill any Supreme Court vacancy

(2) The Senate has the responsibility to vet the nominee and either confirm or deny the nomination

That much is true, but there is a lot of revisionist history going on. 

In 2016 Justice Antonin Scalia died and President Obama nominated Merrick Garland as his replacement. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley refused to even hold confirmation hearings, announcing that, since it was an election year, the American people should have a voice in this selection and that the next president should fill the vacancy on the court. 

This was unprecedented. While there were instances when nominees were rejected, no president was ever denied the right to eventually fill the opening. 

In addition to denying Obama the right to fill the seat, several Republican Senators vowed to block any Supreme nominations a hypothetical President Hillary Clinton might put forth. 

Now, with a vacancy occurring due to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg's death less than 50 days before the election, the Republicans have reversed themselves, insisting that despite it being so close to the election they will bring Trump's nominee to the Senate floor for a vote, and presumably confirm that nominee. Their twisted rationale is that in 2016 the Senate was put in Republican hands to balance the "lame duck" Republican president, while in 2020 the Republican Senate was put in power to support the Republican president. 

Then there's the matter of the filibuster having been eliminated for Supreme Court conformations. Until early in Obama's first term, 60 Senate votes were needed to get virtually anything done. This was because any senator could prevent a vote by filibustering i.e. holding the floor until a cloture vote, stopping the filibuster, was held. A filibuster could only be ended with 60 votes, so effectively, it took 60 votes, not a majority of 51, to get bills passed. This meant there had to be at least some minority party support for any bill. When the Democrats still held a Senate majority they changed the Senate rules to eliminate the filibuster for federal judge appointments. they did this because then minority leader Mitch McConnell was holding up judicial appointment using the filibuster. Now, Lindsey Graham is claiming that this occurred "so that Obama could 'pack' the courts". Apparently, according to Graham, it's a legitimate exercise of presidential authority for a Republican to fill judicial vacancies, but it's an attempt to "pack" the judiciary when a Democrat exercises that same authority. 

The filibuster still existed for Supreme Court nominations until Trump's presidency. Democrats attempted to duplicate the Republican playbook and delay the confirmation of Trump's nominees, but McConnell's Republicans eliminated the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations. 

In another gaslighting attempt, Ronna Romney McDaniel, Republican Party spokesperson tweeted a collection of Democratic  politicians calling for the seat to be filled in 2016, as if it was the same thing. 

Look for more gaslighting and naked power grabs in the weeks to come.