Even Scalia Would Disagree With Republican Obama SCOTUS Obstruction

Americans remain unmoved by Republican justifications for obstructing President Obama’s eventual Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Scalia.

Calling Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) argument “supremely unconvincing” after he joined with 10 Senate Republicans as members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to sign a letter petulantly announcing their intent to refuse to do their jobs, Inquirer columnist Michael Smerconish asked in Philly.Com asked, “WWSD? What would Scalia do?â€

The answer, according to Geoffrey R. Stone, a former clerk for Justice William Brennan who knew Scalia from 1977 until his death, is Scalia would have condemned Senate Republicans for “flagrant abuse of authority for purely partisan ends.â€

Here is what Stone told Smerconish:

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“Although I’ve never discussed this question with Justice Scalia, and although he’s never, to the best of my knowledge, written or spoken on the question, I would have to believe that, if he were addressing this question purely as a matter of principle and behind a curtain – that is, with no knowledge of who the president was and no knowledge of which party controlled the Senate – he would condemn the view put forth by Senator Hatch and the other Senate Republicans,” Stone told me.

“Justice Scalia very much believed in the rule of law,” Stone added. “In this instance, the well-established practice is clear. He would find unconscionable what is unquestionably a flagrant abuse of authority for purely partisan ends. As he made clear in a range of decisions, including, for example, those dealing with campaign finance, he was very skeptical about the legitimacy of congressional action when he suspected politically self-interested manipulation of the legislative process.”

Scalia believed in the rule of law.

Senate Republicans do not.

It is clear to everyone except the most desperate Republican that what Senate Republicans are doing is “politically self-interested manipulation of the legislative process.” That is to say, Senate Republicans are hijacking power intended for the executive branch, stealing it for their own extremist purposes, in an effort to deny the people’s will.

The Republican arguments for failing to do their jobs haven’t been going over so well. Perhaps Republicans have finally pushed their obstruction to the point where even the both-sides-do-it press cannot carry the water (not to suggest the above columnist has ever done that, I am referring to the beltway media narrative). The bucket of lies has become too heavy, too obvious, to carry.

Denying even a hearing because they claim the voters should have a voice is a patently absurd argument when the voters did have a voice and voters did not choose Republicans to be in the White House. Why is it that Senate Republicans do not care about those voters – a majority of this country, by the way?

The voters entrusted in President Obama the solemn, immense power that comes with the executive office. The voters want President Obama to choose the next Supreme Court justice.

This is how it’s always been done. There is no excuse for Republicans refusing to do their jobs — the jobs we pay them to do. It’s an outrageous power grab, undermining checks and balances and at the same time spitting in the voters’ faces.


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