After reading Hunter’s excellent-as-ever story, Sen. Mitch McConnell in 2005: 'The President, and the President alone, nominates judges', I wondered if McConnell has made any other public statements regarding Senate confirmation of Supreme Court Justices. What did I find? Paydirt!
In 1970, McConnell published an article in the Kentucky Law Journal in which he laments the politicization of the Senate confirmation process and makes recommendations for “standards” to be used in the future.
Some excerpts follow.
The President is presumably elected by the people to carry out a program and altering the ideological directions of the Supreme Court would seem to be a perfectly legitimate part of a Presidential platform. To that end, the Constitution gives to him the power to nominate.
Even though the Senate has at various times made purely political decisions in its consideration of Supreme Court nominees, certainly it could not be successfully argued that this is an acceptable practice.
… if the power to nominate had been given to the Senate, as was considered [and rejected] during the debates at the Constitutional Convention, then it would be proper for the Senate to consider political philosophy… The proper role of the Senate is to advise and consent to the particular nomination, and thus, as the Constitution puts it, "to appoint." This taken within the context of modern times should mean an examination only into the qualifications of the President's nominee.
What standard then can be drawn for the Senate from the experiences of the past year in advising and consenting to Presidential nominations to the Supreme Court? … At the outset, the Senate should discount the philosophy of the nominee.
The other “standards” he proposes are competence, achievement/distinction, temperament, ethical behavior, and no criminal record.
Respect for law and the administration of justice has, at various times in our history, been the only buffer between chaos and order. And this past year this pillar of our society [SCOTUS] has been buffeted once again by the winds of both justified and unconscionable attacks. It is time the President and the Congress helped to put an end to the turmoil.
… the true measure of a statesman may well be the ability to rise above partisan political considerations to objectively pass upon another aspiring human being.
In short:
The President gets to nominate whoever s/he damn well pleases, and the Senate gets to stop playing politics.
Does McConnell really believe in these principles? If so, he’s been pretty quiet about them lately.
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