Capitol Report
By State Representative, Leon D. Young
Leon D. Young
It’s official. G.O.P. Senators will continue to do what they do best: delay, delay, and delay in a blatant attempt to sway the political landscape.
Earlier this week, Senate Republican leaders went on record in stating emphatically that there would be no confirmation hearings, no vote, not even a courtesy meeting with President Obama’s nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia.
Together with a written vow from Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee that they would not hold any confirmation hearings, the pledge was the clearest statement yet from the Senate’s majority party that it would do everything it can to prevent Mr. Obama from shifting the ideological balance the nation’s high court.
Chief obstructionist, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, even had the audacity to urge the president to reconsider even submitting a name to the Senate.
More specifically, McConnell stated:
“This nomination will be determined by whoever wins the presidency in the polls.
I agree with the Judiciary Committee’s recommendation that we not have hearings. In short, there will not be action taken.”
Not to be outdone, and feeling the need to energize his own reelection campaign (against Russ Feingold), U.S. Senator Ron Johnson has weighed in on this critical issue.
Senator Johnson has begun running an opinion ad that suggests that the people, and not the current president, should select the justice to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court.
How disingenuous can you be?
The people have already spoken in electing President Barack Obama not once, but twice (in 2008 and in 2012).
And, with that being the case, President Obama has both the constitutional right and responsibility to nominate the most qualified individual to sit on the high court.
And the Senate, in turn, has the constitutional obligation to consider this nomination and then render its determination: to either confirm or reject. Not surprisingly, the GOP is up to its old tricks.
After all, this is the same party that was actively plotting against Mr. Obama on the very night he took office in 2008, and has consistently opposed any of his policy initiatives.
The GOP has definitely earned its new moniker as: the Grand Obstructionist Party.