Republicans have four excellent reasons to move as quickly as possible to confirm a new associate justice to the Supreme Court.
First, the upcoming election will likely be close, and could well be contested. The Supreme Court may ultimately determine the outcome, and the GOP needs to seat an additional (conservative) justice to guarantee the court is not deadlocked in the event of a dispute.
Second, the fight over filling Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s seat will energize Democrat voters, which Joe Biden’s campaign has failed to do. Republicans need to counter this surge of enthusiasm by showing their commitment to conservatives who have historically ranked Supreme Court appointments one of their top priorities.
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Third, as progressives take control of the Democrat Party, a court dedicated to upholding our Constitution becomes ever more important. Nothing will better protect religious freedom, our freedom of speech or our Second Amendment rights, among many other freedoms, than a conservative court.
Fourth, it’s payback time. Democrats’ heinous and unforgivable attacks on Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh can best be answered by confirming another conservative jurist.
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Make no mistake. This battle is going to get ugly; just how ugly became clear almost immediately.
The ink had barely dried on Ginsberg’s death certificate before Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tweeted, “this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”
It should be noted that Schumer sent that tweet even before offering his condolences to Ginsberg’s family or paying his respects to the esteemed associate justice.
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Schumer set the table for what is already becoming a veritable orgy of bare-knuckle politics. Democrats are calling Republicans hypocrites for vowing to fill Ginsberg’s seat before the election. They are reminding voters that, in 2016, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., refused to give President Obama’s pick Merrick Garland a vote in the Senate; the GOP-led chamber argued then that voters in the upcoming election should decide who best to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Antonin Scalia.
Democrats now say that moving ahead with a nomination overturns that precedent; Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., among others, are vowing that, if Republicans manage to secure a conservative majority by confirming a new justice, and Joe Biden is elected president, they will pack the Supreme Court.
Let us be clear: Republicans owe Democrats nothing. No courtesy, no respect, no accommodation. If the GOP can ensure a conservative majority on the Supreme Court for years to come, they should move as quickly as possible to do just that.
For four years, Democrats have obstructed and undermined President Trump at every turn. They have continually challenged the legitimacy of this duly elected president, resorted to arcane maneuvers to prevent the White House from filling even non-controversial appointments, engaged the administration in endless litigation, and dragged the country through an extended, costly and ultimately fruitless investigation into the supposed ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Not content with tying the nation in knots over Russia-gate, House Democrats then impeached the president on even more spurious charges. This overreach cost Democrats voter support and raised the president’s approval ratings to a record high, for good reason.
Let us be clear: Republicans owe Democrats nothing. No courtesy, no respect, no accommodation.
But nothing was more despicable that the accusations of sexual assault leveled against Brett Kavanaugh, a judge with a spotless reputation and impeccable credentials whom Trump nominated to replace Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court.
The spectacle of Sens. Cory “Spartacus” Booker, Kamala Harris and others destroying the reputation of Kavanaugh, based on completely uncorroborated testimony regarding activities decades in the past, the searching through the nominee’s high school yearbook for clues, the description of a fine man as a “gang rapist” and the willingness of the media to promote even the most heinous allegations with no proof whatsoever… we remember.
During that appalling show trial, Democrats ceded all decency. They do not deserve any consultation whatsoever in naming the next Supreme Court justice.
Republicans not only should proceed as quickly as possible with a nomination to fill Ginsberg’s seat; they must do so. Given the increased use of mail-in ballots and recent rulings that might make such voting untrustworthy, there is every chance the Supreme Court will be called upon to officiate the results.
In the event of a dispute, the worst possible outcome would be a tie vote, which would leave our bitterly divided nation adrift. That is unacceptable.
Anticipating some such showdown may be one reason that Democrat voters have recently ranked choosing Supreme Court justices as a high priority. In a recent Pew poll, some 66% of Democrats described the issue as important to their vote, compared to 61% of Republicans.
Evidence of that interest showed up in the hours after Ginsberg’s passing when Democrat causes raked in unprecedented amounts of campaign contributions.
Biden, struggling with a noticeable dearth of enthusiasm for his candidacy, should be elated. Finally, Democrats are excited to vote.
Republicans should be alarmed that the Supreme Court battle could raise Democrat turnout. It also could overshadow rising concern about surging crime that gave President Trump an opening with suburban women voters. Democrats will (again and falsely) warn that another conservative on the court will lead to overturning Roe v. Wade. The best way to curb the Left’s energy on the issue is to confirm a new justice before the election.
Moving quickly to fill Ginsberg’s seat might also help the GOP keep control of the Senate, by spotlighting the importance of maintaining their majority. Several incumbent Republican senators fighting to keep their seats have endorsed moving ahead to fill Ginsberg’s seat, including Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Thom Tillis (N.C.) and Martha McSally (Ariz.).
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Let Democrats howl. American voters intelligently put Republicans in control of the Senate; they have yet another chance to protect our Constitution from persistent undermining from the Left. They must take it.
Former President Barack Obama famously said, “Elections have consequences.” Indeed they do.
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