It's Wednesday, July 13 and Day 151 since Justice Antonin Scalia died and Mitch McConnell laid down his Supreme Court blockade: No meetings, no hearings, no votes on his replacement. It's also Day 114 since President Obama named Merrick Garland to be Scalia's replacement. What's the Senate doing today instead of considering the Supreme Court nominee?
Not nominations. Senate Democrats ultimately decided to acquiesce on the the opioid bill conference report. That's the one Republicans in House-Senate conference stripped anything useful out of. Presumably Democrats decided that it didn't actually do anything bad—like the poision-pilled Zika bill would—even though it probably won't do much good, so that's what the Senate is doing today.
They're not considering the nomination of Carla Hayden to be Librarian of Congress. She'd be the first woman and the first African-American to the post, but unnamed Republicans have decided to block her. Why?
Heritage Foundation fellow Hans von Spakovsky, who calls Hayden a radical who “fought for pornography to be available in libraries,” has written several articles supporting the idea that the post should go to a first-rank scholar or historian. (“The library’s enormous staff (3,244) already numbers countless credentialed librarians — the institution is hardly in need of another,” he wrote.)
“We’ve had these great historians and scholars. It’s the country’s chief cultural institution,” von Spakovsky said Tuesday. “There has been this tradition and I think it’s important to keep.”
Ah, von Spakovsky. Again. Is it a personal vendetta? Probably. Back in 2008, the Bush administration's most famous anti-voting rights activist and vote fraudster was blocked by Democrats—including then-Sen. Barack Obama—from a permanent position on the Federal Elections Commission (Bush had recess-appointed him in 2006). So there's that. Anyway, add Hayden to the long list of people the Senate won't be having confirmation votes on any time soon.
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