Since the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last week, Republicans and Democrats have traded accusations of hypocrisy and taken positions directly contrary to those the parties held in 2016. However, it appears that charge applies to the mainstream media as well.
Senate Republicans famously stalled Barack Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland in early 2016 following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., stating: "The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president."
The mainstream media, who have been hammering Republicans for attempting to confirm President Trump's yet-to-be-announced nominee just weeks before the election, previously blasted the GOP for stalling Garland, as seen in a montage released Friday by the Media Research Center.
"Article Two of the Constitution makes clear that the president nominates, the Senate advises and consents. It doesn't say 'except not in an election year,'" NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie told then-presidential candidate Jeb Bush.
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News outlets like ABC and CBS stressed that "17 presidents" have had Supreme Court nominees confirmed in election years.
NBC's Andrea Mitchell previously declared that a "critical seat on the Supreme Court" was being "held hostage to presidential campaign politics."
Several MSNBC personalities shamed Republicans for not proceeding with the Garland confirmation. "All In" host Chris Hayes said at the time that such stalling "takes the GOP's congressional dysfunction to new lows." Then-MSNBC host Chris Matthews questioned whether it was a "boot in the face to the president."
"I thought the American people decided to put President Obama in the White House and that the Constitution says now the president decides what name to send to [the Senate] and they get to decide whether to vote yes or no. What did I get wrong there?" asked "The Last Word" host Lawrence O'Donnell.
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"These people were elected and they're paid by the United States Treasury to do their job. Now they're saying we're not going to do our jobs. The U.S. Senate should do their job," ABC News analyst Matthew Dowd similarly said at the time. "They show up day in and day out and they get a paycheck. They should do their job and vote it up or down."