Merrick Garland SCOTUS Nominee

Merrick Garland – One More Example…

The View from the Middle

Before I talk about Mitch McConnell’s handling of Merrick Garland, Obama’s recent nominee to the Supreme Court, let me vent about why we are, where we are.

The American people have been ignored and abused by everything Washington for at least the last seven years from both sides of the political spectrum.  We’ve had Obama, The Divider in Chief in the White House, King Harry Reid in the Senate, out of control spending and a foreign policy that is spinning out of control.  Is it any wonder that approval ratings for every aspect of our government (executive, legislative and Supreme Court) are all at historic lows? 

Should we be surprised that nearly two thirds of all Americans are supporting candidates that want to blow up Washington and start over?  Sure, we have Donald Trump and Ted Cruz on the Republican side of the equation, but we also have Bernie Sanders, a self proclaimed socialist, giving Hillary Clinton an unanticipated run for her money of the other side.  We are all fed up and tired of being disregarded.

And now we have Mitch “I’m going to take my ball and go home” McConnell confirming that the childish tantrums aren’t isolated to the Democrats.  Justice Scalia was my favorite Supreme Court Justice.  He was deeply intellectual, humorous and engaging.  He was best buds with Ruth Bader Ginsburg for crying out loud, but still a protector of The Constitution.  With Scalia the court was very balanced indeed. 

We had Scalia, Alito and Thomas leaning right and we had Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan firmly planted on the left with Kennedy and Roberts in the middle, as witnessed by Roberts’ Obamacare decisions.  Whoever replaces Scalia will have a profound impact on the nature and rulings of this new court.  For the good of the country, I believe we should be looking for a constitutional protector like Scalia to keep the court in balance.

So what does America get?  Before Scalia is even in the ground, Mitch McConnell boasts that the Senate will not even consider a justice nominated by President Obama.  What?  He quotes the “Biden Rule” which only proves that he can be as partisan as the worst Democrats when it comes to governing. 

He should have recognized that the President has the right and even obligation to nominate a replacement for Justice Scalia, and that he and the rest of the Senate should give their “advice” for sure and consent if appropriate.  There is nothing in The Constitution that suggests that this process should not occur in a Presidential election year.  Just do your job Mitch and stop playing politics with a process that should be apolitical.  In fact, if Mitch was smart, he could point how partisan Democrats like Biden had been in the past, and demonstrate that Republicans would bring a new rational sheriff into town.

Now, I’m not saying that the Senate would even confirm Merrick Garland as a replacement for Scalia.  His actions in gun control cases and affirming of executive actions demonstrate that he is far from a moderate.  There are even Democratic Senators like Joe Manchin of W. Virginia, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota that might struggle with Mr. Garland’s views.  Have the confirmation hearings and give your advice to the President, and that advice might be to find a different guy!

We’re sick of the political games.  Step up and do your jobs.  It will still take years of adult behavior to win back the trust of “We the People”, but every journey must start with a single step.  Take that first step by having hearings on Merrick Garland.