Republicans Reeling As American People Demand SCOTUS Nominee Confirmation In New Poll

Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:51 pm

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) keeps trying to make the argument that his Obstruct Obama’s Supreme Court Nominee strategy is rooted in some deep principle to let the people have a voice. On March 16, he reiterated this in a USA Today op-ed, “The next Supreme Court justice could fundamentally alter the direction of the court and our country for a generation, and the American people deserve a voice in such a momentous decision.”

McConnell is conveniently pretending that the people didn’t already have a voice, twice, and in that voice elect and then re-elect President Barack Obama, who won decisively both times.

But if McConnell cares so much about the people, why is he ignoring poll after poll showing that the people want McConnell and Grassley to do their jobs?

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A new Gallup poll released today shows that 52% favor a Senate confirmation of Judge Merrick Garland and just 29% oppose it. (19% had no opinion, which is on par with previous polls on other nominees.)

The people have spoken again.

But again, McConnell won’t listen because the people aren’t saying what he wants to hear. McConnell would rather trust Donald Trump to appoint the next SCOTUS Justice.

Those who say the Senate shouldn’t confirm Garland cite McConnell’s bizarre, unprecedented logic as the reason, saying the next president should fill the vacancy (67%). They don’t have concerns so much about Garland as a Justice, but they just believe that Presidents stop working in the fourth year of their terms, per McConnell’s silly argument.

A bit of concerning data for Senator McConnell is that while he’s roping in a few Republicans with this sad sack argument, he is only getting 51% of them to support opposing a confirmation whereas 33% support a confirmation and Independents lean toward confirmation as well.

The poll was taken from March 18-19, days after President Barack Obama nominated Justice Merrick Garland, who has a long record of being respected and admired on both sides of the aisle. He’s the kind of person who should be on the Supreme Court.

As Seung Min Kim pointed out on Twitter, the following Republicans are still serving and voted to confirm Garland in 1997: Coats Cochran Collins Hatch Inhofe McCain Murkowski Roberts:

So that’s awkward.

McConnell is just making things up, of course. There is no precedent not to confirm a nominee in a presidential election year. There have been six justices confirmed since 1900 and of those six, three have been Republicans, so McConnell’s excuse for not doing his job is paper thin.

Since 1975, the average time from nomination to confirmation has been 67 days. Perhaps the Republican-controlled Senate won’t be working for 67 days in the next year. If so, that’s an issue they need to be upfront about with the American people.

The people have spoken again and again they want the Senators to do their jobs, just like the voters have to do their jobs every day. But Mitch McConnell will ignore the people’s will as he talks out of the other side of his mouth and claims he is doing this unprecedented thing out of concern for the people.

In reality, Republicans have already said that if they lose the White House in 2016, they will confirm Garland quickly before the next Democrat gets into the Oval office. So this is all about politics, not people. The politics of delegitimizing this President to cater to the lowest fears of the Republican base.

Sarah Jones

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Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.

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