The Other Shoe: Republican SCoTUS Debacle

Welcome back, My Dear Shoevians, to The Other Shoe. Today I am going to take the opportunity to point out one of the failings of America’s Democracy. Hang on, let me be clear ‘America’s CURRENT Democracy’ because, as you will learn from this article the level of intransigence, by Senate Republicans, is a new and disturbing wrinkle in our democratic process. If you are on of my American readers, you are completely aware of the publicized intransigence of our Republican Senators. Violating the Constitution, Senate Republicans abdicated there right/responsibility of “advice and consent” of a Presidential nomination of a replacement for a open seat on the highest court of our land, the Supreme Court of the United States.

Now, for those Shoevians that did not take civics in high school, here is the salient paragraph of the U.S Constitution:

“He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.”[1]

A simple read, even for all my readers that are not U.S. citizens, yes? According to Article 2 Section 2 Paragraph 2 the sitting U.S. President has the right/responsibility/honor/DUTY to “nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court…” Now, American Republicans are always harping on; “follow the Constitution…”, “honor the Constitution…” “STICK TO the Constitution…” Unless/Until doing so puts their interests are jeopardy. Right?

MORE for my International Shoevians – America is embroiled in an era of hyper partisanship that we have not see since the Civil War[2]. I am not proud of this fact, in fact I have often written about this symptom of a social disease, and will continue to point out that it is (primarily) one party that had brought the division and intransigence to our government and our nation’s governance. This malady started with the (artificial) creation of the ‘Tea Party’. (A misnomer and disingenuous on its face because there never was a political party by that name) Now, the intransigence that has earned the House of Representatives the moniker “The Least Productive Congress in History”. Now, this social disease has infected the Republican leaders of our elder body (of our Congress) the Senate.

According to the U.S. Constitution clearly states that a sitting President shall (for every day of his term) shall appoint nominees for vacancies on the highest court of our land, the Supreme Court of the United States. Nowhere in our defining document of our democracy does it; state, hint, imply or define that a President, in his last year of elected office shall not exercise his Constitutional responsibility and neither shall the Senate do exercise their Constitutional responsibilities. This is an unusual, but not ever rare, occurrence. So, My Dear Shoevians, there is history for us to look at. I have borrowed the research, below, to minimize my level of pain… writing and publishing this article, today.

History of Final Year Nominations of Supreme Court Vacancies:

• 1968: President Lyndon Johnson — who announced he would not run for re-election — nominated Associate Justice Abe Fortas as Chief Justice and Homer Thornberry to fill Fortas’ vacancy. Fortas’ nomination failed, Thornberry withdrew his nomination and Chief Justice Earl Warren remained on the bench, delaying his retirement.

• 1932, President Herbert Hoover nominated Benjamin Cardozo. Hoover lost to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

• 1912: President William Taft successfully nominated Mahlon Pitney to the Supreme Court. Taft lost to Woodrow Wilson.

Three other presidents made successful Supreme Court nominations while running for re-election, but unlike Taft and Hoover, they won another term:

• 1956: Dwight Eisenhower made a recess appointment of William Brennan.

• 1940: Franklin Delano Roosevelt nominated Frank Murphy.

• 1916: Woodrow Wilson nominated John Clarke and Louis Brandeis [3]

There we have it, My Dear Shoevians. Whereas this does not happen often (a sitting Supreme Court Justice passing/retiring) it does happen enough for us to have a recorded history to review. One cannot dictate when any given person will pass away (die), and I am sure that if someone could have asked Justice Antonin Scalia, prior to his death, he would have not wanted to pass away while there was a sitting President that was/is a Democrat. However, the fact remains that Justice Antonin Scalia did pass away while there was a Democrat in office.

Finally, for my international Shoevians, there is a hard reason for the intransigence of our Senate Republicans. The current make-up of our Supreme Court is 5/4. There are five conservative/conservative leaning Justices sitting on that bench and there are four Liberal/Liberal Leaning justices. This appointment can/will change that mix… and change it in favor of a ‘Liberal Bench’. These things happen, Americans. Maybe it is some Galactic Intervention because of rulings like; ‘Citizen’s United’[4] FYI that was a ruling, here in America, that gave corporations the same rights (as far as political contributions and influence) as a PERSON! Yes, that is completely absurd… bordering on insanity… and the why I think that reality is doing this shuffle on the bench.

Now, as all political followers know, there is brinkmanship in all types of self-governance. Be it a Republic or other type of Representative Government there is… discord and brinkmanship, but this is different, for America. I looked and looked and found one quote that helps me define how this is different.

: Senator James Inhofe, R-OK

Sen. Jim Inhofe (Ok.) “…we will not accept any nomination from President Obama.”

Does that sound like it is not personal? Be sure, this is personal and it is against our TWICE elected sitting President of the United States – President Barrack Obama. Yes, Republicans are fearful that if ‘Citizens United’ is brought before a new Supreme Court of the United States that has a more left-leaning court? It will be overturned. That is there fear and that is there motivation of not ever giving a hearing to the man President Obama just nominated for the open seat on the Supreme Court of the United States.

My Dear Shoevians, this is March of the final year of his Presidency. It is not like it is November and the American people have gone to the polls and elected the Republican nominee. This is much different. Historically, Presidents get hearing for nominations for the whole time they are elected to office!

America’s Republicans are making the American democracy appear broken! This is very very bad, and reflects poorly on our entire nation. Not just on Senate Republicans. Not just on Republicans. It reflects poorly on our entire nation… our Republic… our Democracy!America has the longest surviving democracy in the history of mankind. That is not just an honor. That is a responsibility! A responsibility to execute the responsibilities of your elected office every/all days your have been elected to serve. A handful of Senators, belonging to one party, cannot be allowed to besmirch the (long earned) reputation of this democracy. This is historically bad!

My Dear Shoevians, I am experiencing a lot of pain… at this point. So, I am going to cut this article short… here. I will be back to publish about this debacle… soon. I appreciate everyone that has come by to read and learn. Have a great Hump-Day and I will be back here, soon!

Adieu!

Thank you!