After Hillary
Clinton presumably assassinated Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia a year ago, then-President Barack Obama selected Justice Merrick Garland to fill the vacant seat on the Supreme Court. We know how that ended.
Per Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and universal Republican decree, we waited for the Presidential election to hear the voice of the people and
let the voters decide. We relied on the democratic vote, in tandem with a screwy—let’s call it “unique”—electoral system, to decide whether Garland would replace the beloved obese smoker of a teddy bear, the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
In between his instant
scandals and
massive protests, our “so-called President” Trump offered up Neil Gorsuch for the Court. And so now the McConnell Rule mandates that we wait for the next Presidential election to let the voters, in tandem with our quaint Electoral College, decide Gorsuch’s own Supreme fate.
Inexplicably, some Republicans quickly disrespected and disregarded the McConnell Rule, figuratively flipping the bird to the Senate Majority Leader. Vice President Mike Pence, the man on track to be the third United States President of 2017, threw shade (as the
cool senators would say) on Leader McConnell by suggesting Gorsuch be confirmed before the American people get a chance to vote at the ballot box.
"The American people deserve a vote on the floor of the United States Senate,"
Pence said February 4. Rather than adhere to the McConnell Rule, Pence suggested a change in confirmation standards, calling for Gorsuch to get “an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor one way or the other."
Understandably, some Democrats believe the same rules should apply no matter which party is in power. Without referencing the McConnell Rule explicitly, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) pointed out that Merrick Garland was somewhat screwed with his pants on, and Gorsuch did not ease the pain.
“This is a stolen seat being filled by an illegitimate and extreme nominee,”
Merkley said, “and I will do everything in my power to stand up against this assault on the Court.”