The boundless cynicism of Mitch McConnell is again on display. The Kentucky Republican, who is the Senate Majority Leader, told a home-state audience that, if there is a vacancy on the Supreme Court in 2020, he will make sure that President Trump’s nominee receives a confirmation vote. This, of course, conflicts with McConnell’s view on …
McConnell refused to confirm Obama’s Supreme Court nominee during an election year. But for a 2020 vacancy? “Oh, we’d fill it.” In 2016, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell successfully kept Obama appointee Merrick Garland off the Supreme Court bench by insisting it would be a cardinal sin if a Supreme Court justice was …
WASHINGTON (AP) — Wondering when Supreme Court nominations became so politically contentious? Only about 222 years ago — when the Senate voted down George Washington’s choice for chief justice. This year’s brouhaha sees Senate Democrats and Republicans bracing for a showdown over President Donald Trump’s nominee, Neil Gorsuch. It’s the …
WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Donald Trump nominates a Supreme Court justice, Senate Democrats and Republicans will immediately face intense political pressure, with liberals demanding that Democrats block the choice and the new president urging Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to blow up longstanding rules to secure confirmation. What happens depends …
In retaliation for Republican norm-breaking, he could temporarily fill over 100 judicial vacancies — including the one on the Supreme Court. Barack Obama is probably not going to be in a terribly good mood between now and January 20, 2017, the day Donald Trump takes the oath of office to …
It’s been nearly eight months since Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died unexpectedly, leaving the nation’s highest court short-handed, and evenly divided on some of the most important legal issues of the day. While Democrats had expected to exploit GOP stonewalling on a replacement, Republicans have played the issue shrewdly. …
The window for approving more Obama court picks is narrowing — but it’s not slammed completely shut. Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland may be the most prominent casualty of the GOP-controlled Senate’s election-year resistance on the federal judiciary — but the pace of overall judicial confirmations under Mitch McConnell is …
A year without a justice is the least of our worries. We could be in for a full-scale constitutional meltdown. Even in a year when the bizarre is becoming routine in politics, the fight over the Supreme Court vacancy stands out. All signs suggest the Senate’s Republican leadership wants to …
Who can he be when he’s not public enemy No. 1? On Friday March 11, Senator Orrin Hatch appeared before a conservative organization and complained about President Obama’s forthcoming Supreme Court nomination. “The president told me several times he’s going to name a moderate, but I don’t believe him,” said …
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Thursday signaled that his announcement of a Supreme Court nominee could come soon, saying the nation’s highest court needs to operate at full strength. Obama did not say when he would reveal his choice to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who died …