Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 11:23 am
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who blocked Obama SCOTUS nominee Merrick Garland, complained to reporters and claimed that the American people would not tolerate Democrats blocking Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.
Video:
McConnell: "The American people simply will not tolerate" Democrats blocking Trump's SCOTUS nominee https://t.co/9b6sqFrQTM
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— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 4, 2017
McConnell said, “I noticed my counterpart Sen. Schumer announced yesterday that their goal was apparently to never fill the Supreme Court vacancy. That’s kind of an expansion of Biden rule. You recall the Biden rule in 1992 was the Senate would not confirm a Supreme Court nominee in the middle of a presidential election year, which was my view last year. Sen. Schumer said in the second Bush administration that they would not confirm a Supreme Court nominee in the last eighteen months of President Bush’s forty-three’s tenure. Apparently, there’s yet a new standard now, which is to not confirm a Supreme Court nominee at all. I think that’s something that the American people simply will not tolerate, and we’ll be looking forward to receiving a Supreme Court nomination and moving forward on it.”
Since 54% of voters did not vote for Donald Trump, I suspect that the Majority Leader is completely wrong. The American people would probably be fine with a president that the majority rejected getting nothing. It could be argued that Democrats will be carrying out the will of the people by blocking Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.
McConnell’s use of the “Biden rule,” a rule which doesn’t exist was complete nonsense.
The truth is a man who carried out the historic obstruction of President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee does not want to held to the same standard now that Republicans are in control of the White House and Congress.
The louder McConnell complains, the more Democrats dig in and focus on paying back the Majority Leader for his obstruction.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association