2020 Democratic candidate Joe Biden said that he’d nominate Judge Merrick Garland to fill a potential opening at the Supreme Court if he won the election.
How about appointing someone who might fill the seat for a couple of decades? Once again, Biden is stuck in another time.
I’d like to see that Obama guy get on SCOTUS.
Biden gave a couple of answers on the courts to a concerned female voter that just made him look…well…old.
There just isn’t a focus there or attention to detail. There isn’t a thoughtfulness to feel the desperation and sense of urgency that most Democratic voters feel. His ship hit the iceberg last week and it’s leaking out. If other candidates are smart, they’ll go after Biden to further confirm what Harris proved last week: Joe is not ready for this at this moment and he might not be so give us others a look as he is too much of a risk at this point.
Yes. And not to mention his creation of the “rule” the Republicans used to deny Obama the Garland nomination. One would think silence and discretion would be the words.
Garland was the nominee that Obama thought had the best chance of getting through a Republican Senate, we all saw how that turned out. THe next Democratic President needs to look for two things in a SCOTUS nominee: 1. A very progressive viewpoint at least as left and RBG, 2. Youth and health to out last the GAK (gorsuch, alito, kavanaugh) death squad. It would also be good if they understood what the word “Justice” in their new title actually meant.
Biden missed one important point - if the GOP retains control of the Senate McConnell will restore the 60 vote Senate Rule to confirm a Supreme Court nominee. The most likely vacancies on the Supreme Court are the notorious RBG and Breyer and McConnell would be ecstatic with a 5-3 or 5-2 majority.
The man is living in the past. Garland is a very solid moderate to conservative judge. He deserves to be Chief Justice. But he is not the natural replacement for RBG. These are different times. Biden doesn’t seem to know that.
Biden is a Dead Candidate Walking, and he probably always was. After all he couldn’t get traction in a time when the zeitgeist was much more favorable to him, now he’s just an anachronism with high name recognition. Sanders is stronger but seems to have a lot of Venn diagram overlap with Biden.
This really looks like it’s shaping up to be Harris vs Warren. Harris has proven her power in debate, Warren hers in policy. Harris is definitely more centrist, Warren is radical but in a Rooseveltian way. Going to be a very interesting year.
Yes, it is essential that the Dems retake the Senate. They need to gain 3 seats to have a total of 50. That plus a Dem VP who would preside would give the Dems control of the Senate.
Here’s a question: Is Warren Chief Justice as long as he wants to be, or can he be replaced by vote of all the Justices?
Just another example of Biden fighting the last battle, and just phoning it in. While I have immense respect for Garland, we need our version of a Kavanaugh or Gorsuch, but without the dishonesty and beer drinking. Someone who’s proudly progressive, fiercely intelligent, and a fighter for our values. Unfortunately for Garland, his ship has sailed in my opinion.
“No, I’m not prepared to go on and try to pack the court, because we’ll live to rue that day,” he said.
How about another liberal female or African-American justice on the SCOTUS. Garland now is 66. He still has a lot of years ahead of him but not as many as someone equally qualified and even far more progressive. Remember, Obama chose him at first because he thought Garland would appeal to both Rs and Ds since he was voted 76-23 to the Appeals Court.
I agree though, age should be considered a factor. Its how the Rs have managed to lock in rightwing longevity on the court so far, but many of the justices now are getting older and who knows how quickly any one of those older justices will need replacing in the next term or two. Biden can only be elected to serve one term if we’re being honest with ourselves…and that alone has always bothered me.
Hope he’s just being diplomatic. It’s no time for compensation for Merrick Garland. FFS nominate someone under fifty.
Biden’s fighting the General Election, not wanting to be caught up in controversial positions that would be troublesome there.
Would he veto legislation from a Democratic House and Senate that packed the courts, and would he push Garland over a preferred younger and more liberal member, that’s the sort of question that would worry me with a ‘yes’ answer.
But unless it goes down that route, really nothing controversial in picking a middle-of-the-road bit that appeals to the stupid people in the middle.
I think Harris v Warren is the race right now when you use the eye test. Polls are getting closer to what people can sense. However, I do think that voters will dispense with Biden quite quickly. You could see/hear it in comment after comment from older white voters in IA. I’m hearing it from older voters of all races, anecdotally speaking. Everyone is judging the candidates on whether they can match up with Trump. Biden doesn’t look or feel like the right match up right now and it’s his age that’s a real factor. Bernie, although not flailing as much as Biden, is also showing his age a bit.
I would expect that there will be another 2 younger candidates that start to climb among the following group: Beto, Castro, Pete, Klobuchar, Gillibrand.
To be precise, what Biden had argued in '92 was that, were a vacancy to occur during election season, Bush should do what most of his predecessors had done and not nominate anyone until after election season was over. Failing that, Biden argued, even if someone were nominated during that election season, the Senate should postpone “advice and consent” until after the election. Biden said nothing about having to wait for a new president to make the nomination.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone to learn that when McConnell cited Biden to block Garland, it was equal parts dishonesty, opportunism, and cynicism.
Why not cut to the chase? Those two are Castro and Pete. The other three should pack bags and go back wherever, Beto’s still got time to get on some State-level race, I presume. Isn’t Cornyn up for re-election?
I agree.
On the other hand, even a Democrat in the White House does have to consider what the Senate will say.