Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) sat through all of the statements made by all of the Republicans in the Senate Judiciary Committee's "debate" Thursday, and he had a lot to say to set the record straight.
He started out responding to Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) who railed about "activist judges" and making sure that the court kept its ideological balance and that President Obama wouldn't nominate another justice who would "legislate from the bench." That definitely set the good senator from Minnesota off:
"This idea of nine unelected justices making law from the bench, that is what we have seen with the Roberts court. […] We had 100 votes in the Voting Rights Act. Unanimous vote by the United States senate. And what did Justice Scalia say? He said that, well, the senators voting for it because it was named to the Voting Rights Act. Remember that? […] I mean, this is insulting. To hear that. It is just insulting."
Then he got onto the many recitations of the hypothetical comments made by then-Sen. Joe Biden back in June 1992 about a possible resignation by a justice to allow a sitting president to replace him or her, words used by Republicans to try to demonstrate "both sides do it."
"We are talking here about confirming someone to replace a justice who has died. Think about how different that is, everybody. When Chuck Schumer says its an extraordinary situation, he is talking about someone dying. […] No one dies to game the system. What Biden was talking about, as soon as the Supreme Court session ends, then resigning, in order to game the system.
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He also reminded everyone that Biden made that statement in "late June, as the session was ending," adding little dig at the opposition: "Scientists tell us there are 10.5 months left in this president's four-year term." And about President Obama's vote to filibuster Justice Samuel Alito, a vote they say justifies their current blockade, "that is the 60 vote threshold on Supreme Court Justices that you all so hold so dear. That is what a filibuster is."
It was a righteous skewering of all the bogus, hypocritical Republicans have been repeating to try to justify their unprecedented actions, and you can watch it all below. We need more of that. We need a Democratic majority in the Judiciary Committee again.