Early on in the Senate Republicans' blockade of any nominee from President Obama to replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, Chuck Grassley went in search of a rationale and landed on something he called the "Biden Rule." A totally made up thing, never imposed by Joe Biden, about making appointments in the last few months of a presidency that Grassley is still struggling to explain.
Asked about when the clock kicks in for a president to no longer be able to nominate a Supreme Court justice, Grassley demurred.
"I don't think that finite approach can be answered unless you actually want to write a rule or law that says that," Grassley said Thursday, describing the Biden rule as more of a "understanding."
"I use the term Biden rule, and people think we've got a written rule, we don't have a written rule, and maybe you can think of a better word than understanding," Grassley said. "I think that if you are going to get that precise, it ought be something that’s on paper."
Yeah, it's not a written rule—or even an "understanding"—because it's total bullshit. Even if it was on paper, there's no way there would be a Senate agreement that a vacancy that occurred in February of an election year should be left open. Because that's insane. Everything that Biden was talking about in that decades old speech that Grassley keeps trying to pretend is justification was hypothetical.
This vacancy is real. The ramifications of a deadlocked Supreme Court are real. And that rests entirely on Grassley, who could end this blockade.
Please donate $3 today to help Patty Judge retire this guy.