In case you need empirical evidence that the Republican Senate has taken obstruction to entirely new levels by refusing to even consider Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, here you go.
WASHINGTON — How unusual is the Republican blockade of the nomination of Judge Merrick B. Garland, President Obama's pick for the Supreme Court? After a comprehensive look at every past Supreme Court vacancy, two law professors have concluded that it is an unprecedented development. […]
That categorical stance is new in the nation's history, the professors, Robin Bradley Kar and Jason Mazzone, wrote in a study published online by The New York University Law Review. The Senate has never before transferred a president's appointment power in comparable circumstances to an unknown successor, they said—an argument that many Democratic lawmakers have also made.
"There really is something unique about the position Republican senators are taking with respect to the Scalia vacancy," said Professor Mazzone, who teaches at the University of Illinois.
"You really cannot find any single comparable case," he said. "We really did not find any precedent for the idea, notwithstanding the Senate's very broad powers in this area, that a sitting president could be denied outright the authority to offer up a nominee who would receive evaluation through normal Senate processes."
Edward Whelan, "a prominent conservative legal blogger," says that this is bunk because they only looked at Supreme Court nominees and because they "excluded nominations from three presidents who gained office by succession rather than election" and "three presidents who started the nomination process after their successors had already been elected." Also, LBJ and his rejected nominee Abe Fortas.
Except, here's the thing.
"There is a difference," Prof. Mazzone said, "between the Senate rejecting, as it's quite entitled to do, a particular nominee on the merits, and the Senate taking the position that a president cannot exercise a constitutionally delegated power." A huge difference! It's the difference between doing its constitutional job of advice and consent by, you know, considering the nominee—and refusing to do its job.
So, yes, Mitch McConnell and his crew are making history. Regrettable, despicable, and pathetic history.
Please donate $3 today to help turn the Senate blue and demote Mitch McConnell.