What do William Howard Taft and Barack Obama have in common? Ask me next year.
What would be the cruelest irony of Republican obstructionism? If the Mitch McConnell declaration of war against filling the present vacancy on the Supreme Court during the balance of the president's term becomes reality, next January 20th, the 45th President of the United States will be tasked with nominating a successor to the late Justice Scalia. And if the tides should turn against the Republicans, and the Democrats not only remain in control of the White House but regain control of the Senate, well then…
At the end of June 1921, then Chief Justice Edward Douglass White died. President Warren G. Harding nominated as his replacement the man who had left the Oval Office eight years earlier. By a vote of 60 to 4, William Howard Taft became the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. It was a position he would hold for nine years. To this day, he is the one and only person who has served both as Commander in Chief and on SCOTUS.
We have witnessed the intellect of President Obama since he burst upon the national stage in 2007. There is little doubt that this former Constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago, this Harvard Law School-educated leader, possesses the mental acuity and depth of knowledge to address the issues that come before the highest Court.
Much has been made of the President's failure to attend the funeral of Justice Scalia. Was this a personal snub, a response to the rulings of the Court during Mr. Obama's term which the President had found distasteful and destructive to the fabric of this country? Unlikely. Was this the quid pro quo for Mr. Scalia not having attended a State of the Union address during the years of the Obama presidency? Not really, as it had been 20 years since the Justice had been present for one of these speeches.
More likely, it was merely a misstep by a President who is disinterested in the parlor games that the office dictates, to the small talk and the politically correct approach to sleeping with the enemy. For Barack Obama to assume the role of Supreme Court Justice, many stars would have to align. And whether the President, having just gone through eight years of an always contentious, often tortured relationship with the Republican party, would welcome the opportunity to continue to do battle on a different stage, is highly questionable. But just the thought of this transpiring lays directly at the feet of those who would deny Mr. Obama the chance even to begin the process of seeking a replacement for Justice Scalia.
If there were to be a Shakespearean play with a dagger through the heart, this would be it.