Except as already noted, Biden’s option is that even if a vacancy should open up just a month or two before an election, the POTUS should try and work with the Senate and nominate someone the Senate could consider to the bench. But even if the POTUS didn’t, the Senate would still do its duty and consider the nominee.
You know, the exact opposite of what the anti-Constitutional liar Grassley (and his GOP brethren) are spinning it as.
I don’t see the equivalency. I am embarrassed that we have a President who would submit a Supreme Court nomination with barely over 300 days left in his term.
Hasn’t he read the Constitution? If the authors and signers of the Constitution wanted the President to nominate justices for vacancies and wanted the President to carry out duties for a 4-year period in office, don’t you think they would have put that in the document?
Our nation may not survive Obama’s tyranny.
All of them…
ALL THE SEATS…
I honestly think that half the GOP in national office are looking at the prospect of a Trump ticket, and just lost their will to live…
Well don’t you know?
If the President is black, he only gets 3/5ths of a term.
The fact that the media is spending any time at all trying to determine whether Grassley’s invocation of Biden’s comments has merit makes me want to vomit.
Aha. And the reason you guys are stonewalling is not to score ‘political points’…?
Please explain. Try not to waffle.
I’ve listened and read quite a bit about this nominee fight. There is a line of thinking Obama will nominate someone marginally centrist in their views, unimpeachable in their background and thought to appeal to a segment of the electorate that may harbor resentment over lack of a hearing and vote; a minority, a woman, a jurist with military veteran background, etc. Then there is no vote, ostensibly because of Republican’s objection to a “lame duck” making the nomination, coupled with the politics of the election. When in actuality it’s Republicans hoping for a GOP Prez making the next nomination. However, if a Democrat wins the election, Republicans have the option to initiate hearings, because the centrist jurist Obama nominated may be the lesser of two evils, the other being a more liberal nomination by Hillary. Obama is smart to play their game, getting that name on the table to possibly be considered and voted on by the Senate in the winter before Hillary’s inauguration.
Two independents: Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Angus King (I-ME). They both caucus with the Democrats.
Not counting any of those chickens. But yes, the President will follow the Constitution and nominate a very acceptable nominee, and the GOP with lose their mind and do everything possible to lie, cheat, and spin to prevent any nominee being placed on the bench by President Obama in the desperate hope that can win in Nov and run out the clock.
He pointed yet again to a speech made by then-Judiciary Committee Chair Joe Biden in 1992 discouraging nominees be considered months before election. Democrats, including Biden, insist the speech is being taken out of context by Republicans…
This seems like something that could easily be confirmed or falsified by looking at the speech in question. So why is it being presented as a he said he said situation?
Embarassment to the Hawkeye state says what?
McConnell’s position is a Republican majority Senate not only doesn’t have to fill a SCOTUS vacancy in this term, but in theory could refuse to fill any vacancies for the entire term of the next President.
Just hours after Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced that he would confirm no one President Obama nominates to fill Scalia’s seat. “This vacancy should not be filled until we have a new President,” according to a statement McConnell released shortly after news of Scalia’s death became public.
Now, however, McConnell appears to be having second thoughts — not about blocking Obama’s nominee; he’s fully committed to that position — but about whether it is a good idea to allow the next president to fill the seat either:
MCCONNELL and CORNYN both say they won't even meet with a SCOTUS nominee. McConnell also wouldn't commit to up-or-down vote for next POTUS
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 23, 2016
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/02/23/3752703/mitch-mcconnell-is-already-threatening-to-block-the-next-presidents-supreme-court-nominee-too/I find it fascinating that right above this article and right below the one where another Republican idiot admits that it’s all politics, and that the Republicans would allow a SCOTUS nominee a hearing if the POTUS were a Republican there is the article about Obama’s approval rates climbing higher and higher. Are these guys actually so stupid that they think the nation isn’t watching them, and in my case, in total disgust?
And the best part is. . . .History will remember Joe Biden kindly. Chuck Grassley, ummm, especially if he loses the Judiciary Committee as republicans lose the Senate this fall. . .not so much. See ya, Chuck!
"We’re already witnessing how raw politics is infecting the process.
Regardless of what some are willing to admit publicly, everybody knows
any nominee submitted in the middle of this presidential campaign isn’t
getting confirmed.
…
Then I take it that Mr Grassley is no student of history. Esp. the history of SCOTUS nominations during election years…I wonder if Grassley has ever heard of Justice Louis Brandeis. Probably not.
…
This election year as Grassley termed it fairly drips with racism. hatred and searing envy. Hatred and racism that our “one term” President got elected TWICE. This opposition isn’t about process or historical context. It’s purely about McConnell’s racism. Old school racism…the kind I grew up seeing and hating. McConnell is the driver of this, Grassley is his pet puppy
edit
Once again the GOPers (Grassley in this case) are trying to make the senate histrionics all about democrats causing the problem (scoring points…of course the GOP never does that.
Fuckwads.
GrASSley was the idiot boy of the hearings for Justice Toadstool back in the day. Hasn’t matured a bit.
It’s really time for Al Franken to come of the bench and start swinging the heavy bat.
I bet it’s not the first time Senator King has been overlooked. My bad nevertheless.
If you composed this, it was stunningly prescient on your part.
… MSM.
False equivalency is the lifeblood of the industry.
Also keeps repubs in the running, so the horse race is exciting.
their purpose is not to inform. it’s a business and ratings drive add revenues.
Because TPM is devolving into shit reporting.