Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has seized upon an old speech by now-Vice President Joe Biden, twisting it to justify his decision to refuse his constitutional duty to confirm a Supreme Court nominee from President Obama. Senate Democrats have decided to repay the favor, and have found four decades of statements from McConnell, all pointing to the profound duty of the Senate to confirm judges, without politics.
Here's just a few of them across the decades:
"After all, if political matters were relevant to senatorial consideration it might be suggested that a constitutional amendment be introduced giving to the Senate rather than the president the right to nominate Supreme Court justices." [Kentucky Law Journal, Volume 59, 1970-1971] […]
"I believe that a heavy burden must be met by those who would have this nominee rejected. Under the Constitution, our duty is to provide advice and consent to judicial nominations, not to substitute our judgement for what are reasonable views for a judicial nominee to hold." [Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Elevation of Justice Rehnquist, 7/86] […]
"The framers intended for three separate and independent branches of government. The judiciary was to be free from political influences, insulated from the whims of a changing majority and answerable only to the law and a public that expected the judicial branch to dispense justice free from the taint of popular politics. Any attempt to deny confirmation on the basis of a philosophy, that is within the mainstream of American political and judicial thought, is an assault on this tripartite structure of government. It is clear under our form of government that the advice and consent role of the Senate in judicial nominations should not be politicized." [Floor Remarks, 10/2/90] […]
"There are few duties more consequential for a Member of the U.S. Senate than to vote on a Supreme Court nominee." [Floor Remarks, 7/13/09]
"Whether it's small-claims court or the Supreme Court, Americans expect politics to end at the courtroom door." [NY Times, 8/5/10]
What a difference a Democratic president (and an African American one) makes.