Replace Justice Ginsburg Now

President Trump tweeted he would proceed to fill the vacancy left by Justice Ginsburg’s death without delay.  Mitch McConnell said the nominee will receive a floor vote.

Former President Obama suggested the Senate should delay replacing Ginsburg until after the election.  However, he himself nominated Merrick Garland in an election year, 2016, and argued the spot should be filled immediately. 

Joe Biden has demanded Ginsburg not be replaced until after the election.  But he wrote in 2016 President Obama had a “constitutional duty” and should move quickly in that election year to fill the vacancy caused by Justice Scalia’s death. 

Chuck Schumer said the vacancy should not be filled until there is a new president. But he argued in 2016 that the Senate should act on Garland’s nomination, tweeting that 17 Supreme Court justices have been confirmed in presidential election years and telling the Senate to #DoYourJob.

The late Justice Ginsburg left us so-called ‘instructions’ that her most fervent wish was that she not be replaced until a new president is installed.  Sorry, but there is no ‘dead Justice’ rule requiring anyone to follow her wishes.  The only rule is power:  the Republican Senate denied Obama a vote on Garland in 2016 because it could, and is proceeding now because it can, and nothing in the Constitution or law prevents it. 

As for there only being some 40 days left before the election, Justice Stevens was confirmed in just 16 days after being nominated in 1975.  Justice O’Connor’s confirmation only took 33 days and Justice Ginsburg herself was confirmed in just 42 days.  They didn’t have Judiciary Committee hearings on Supreme Court nominees until 1916 [1], so maybe we should just skip the circus altogether and go right to a vote. 

All the flip-flops and political expediency aside, here’s what decides the case for me:  The Democrats and their allies have spent the last four-plus years trying to run President Trump out of office.  They spied on his 2016 presidential campaign and have yet to be brought to justice.  They declared they would not accept the results of the 2016 election and resolved to become ‘ungovernable’ - their word, not mine.  They rioted, smashed windows, and torched limousines at his 2017 inauguration.  They consumed the next two years lying to us about Trump-Russia collusion.  They gave up on that, but then lied about the Ukraine phone call and brought what has to be the lamest impeachment case, ever, against a sitting President, in all of American history.  They failed miserably.  Now they’re back out on the streets rioting for months on end trying to burn down federal buildings and blind police officers with lasers.  The rioting stopped being about George Floyd a long time ago.  They’ve already threatened to burn everything down and shut down the country if the Supreme Court nomination proceeds now.  Hillary Clinton and others have told Biden not to accept the results of the current election, no matter what, and the Biden campaign has lined up 600 lawyers to contest election results in every corner of the land.  And who can forget or forgive what happened to Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing - all those bogus last-minute accusations and the pictures of wild-eyed ignoramuses pounding on the doors of the Supreme Court.

After all this, Donald Trump is supposed to stay his hand?  Why should the Left’s refusal to accept a peaceful transition of power in the last election and their atrocious behavior ever since be rewarded with a delay now?  If the shoe were on the other foot, you know darn well the Democrats would proceed.  Elections have consequences.  Refusing to accept election results should have consequences, too.