News of Ruth Bader Ginsbirg’s death broke just about a month ago. At the time, a giddy Mitch McConnell could barely contain his excitement. The GOP worked to fill the seat.
The many Republican lawmakers who said in 2016 that a Supreme Court Justice shouldn’t be sat in an election year were happy to wear egg on their faces. And the hearing process was furiously pushed, culminating this week.
There is little that Democrats can do to stop Amy Coney Barrett’s appointment. Simply put, the Republicans have the necessary votes. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, hoped to at least give the GOP pause with a stirring speech on Thursday.
“Don’t think when you have established the rule of ‘because we can,’ that should the shoe be on the other foot, you will have any credibility to come to us and say: ‘yeah, I know you can do that, but you shouldn’t,’†Whitehouse began. “Your credibility to make that argument at any time in the future will die in this room and on that Senate floor if you continue.”
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The senator continued:
“What the Republicans have done to the reputation and integrity of the court through these last three nominations leaves a tarnish on the court that I don’t think the court can bear. That means it’s going to be on us to figure out how to clean up that mess and restore a court that is demonstrably not the organ of big special interests.”
Watch a clip of the speech below, courtesy of C-SPAN:
https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1316784999182499842
Todd Neikirk is a New Jersey based politics and technology writer. His work has been featured in psfk.com, foxsports.com and hillreporter.com. He enjoys sports, politics, comic books and spending time at the shore with his family.
