This is awfully big of them: Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell and Chuck Grassley have finally agreed to meet with President Obama and Vice President Biden Tuesday, along with Democratic Sens. Harry Reid and Patrick Leahy to discuss the Supreme Court vacancy. It's likely to be a slightly tense meeting.
Republicans, who fear that an Obama nominee would tilt the balance of the court to the left for decades, say that Mr. Obama is a lame duck and that the next president should decide on a nominee. Mr. Obama, who has nearly 11 months left in office, has repeatedly said that it is his constitutional duty to select a nominee and that it is the job of the Senate to hold hearings.
In a speech on the Senate floor on Monday, Mr. Reid heaped abuse on Mr. Grassley, saying he was abandoning his oath of office and abdicating his constitutional responsibilities.
“The chairman has turned the impartial reputation of the Judiciary Committee into an extension of the Trump campaign,” Mr. Reid said.
Mr. Grassley fired back: “It’s another day and another tantrum from the minority leader. But it doesn’t matter how much he jumps up and down and stomps his feet, we aren’t going to let the far left get away with denying the American people the opportunity to be heard.”
The president has the constitution and historical precedent on his side, but it’s unlikely he’ll be able to sway McConnell and Grassley. They have a higher power to answer to this election year: Heritage Action and other far-right groups, which are demanding maximum obstruction. These groups are playing a long game, fine with the possibility of some vulnerable Republicans losing their seats over the fight on the chance that Republicans get the White House in November and secure the Supreme Court.
Of course, there's a big problem with that approach, one plenty of Republicans are waking up to.
One aide to a vulnerable Senate Republican, who requested anonymity, jokingly suggested that there might be another, very different source of pressure as early as Tuesday night. “I’m not sure we want to be in the business of telling voters that we’d rather risk having Donald Trump nominate the next Supreme Court justice,” he said.
That's a dilemma McConnell and Grassley so richly deserve.
Please donate $3 today to help turn the Senate blue. The future of the Supreme Court depends on it.