We were reminded when Judge Neil Gorsuch took his seat on the U.S. Supreme Court that Judge Merrick Garland should have already been occupying that seat for months. But in his zeal to rob Barack Obama of any presidential legacy, Sen. Mitch McConnell and his gang decreed that this nomination should not be given consideration because it was made in the final year of President Obama’s term in office.
I am proposing that Democrats codify McConnell’s pronouncement into law, proposing legislation or, better still, a constitutional amendment that no president shall have the authority to appoint a Supreme Court justice in the final year of his or her current term. If such a measure were to pass, this would effectively prevent Donald Trump from appointing anyone to the court in the year 2020.
Of course, this proposal would be absurd and have absolutely no chance of passage. But what it would accomplish would be to shine a spotlight on Republican hypocrisy and highlight how tragic it was that a highly qualified and highly regarded candidate like Garland was not even given serious consideration for the highest court in the land because of cheapjack backroom politics.
