President Obama will be in Chicago today to shamelessly insist once again that the Supreme Court should be remade for a generation before the American people have a chance to speak. Obama’s argument has been called a “politically convenient fairy tale” by the Washington Post, but that hasn’t stopped him from hypocritically insisting on a vote for his partisan nominee.
As the first president in history to attempt to filibuster a judicial nomination – that’s right, Barack Obama tried to block an up-or-down vote on Justice Samuel Alito – the hypocrisy is nothing short of blatant
- "President Obama’s expressed hope today in his weekly address ‘that we can avoid the political posturing and ideological brinksmanship that has bogged down this (Supreme Court nomination) process, and Congress, in the past’ runs against another historical first for the 44th president: his unique role in history as the first US President to have ever voted to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee." (Evan Harris, "First President In US History To Have Voted To Filibuster A Supreme Court Nominee Now Hopes For Clean Process," ABC News , 5/30/09)
Not surprisingly, Obama’s top lieutenants embraced similar positions in the past, when Republican presidents were making judicial nominations. In addition to the now-infamous Biden Rule, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid addressed the Senate in 2005 and made an argument that might sound similar to those following the present-day back and forth:
[youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N2ALreTxPI&feature=youtu.be"]
- In May 2005, Harry Reid Said “Nothing In The Advice And Consent Clause Of The Constitution Mandates That A Nominee Receive A Majority Vote, Or Even A Vote Of Any Kind.” “Nothing in the advice and consent clause of the Constitution mandates that a nominee receive a majority vote, or even a vote of any kind. According to the Congressional Research Service, over 500 judicial nominees since 1945–18 percent of all judicial nominees–were never voted on by the full Senate. Most recently, over 60 of President Clinton’s judicial nominees were denied an up-or -down vote.” (Sen. Harry Reid, Congressional Record, 5/24/05, p. S5826)
The President’s message boils down to this: ignore my own actions and the arguments of every major figure of my own party and confirm my liberal court nominee before the American people can reject my agenda again. ‘Politically convenient fairy tale’ is right.