He’s trying to be consistent. Applying the same rules in 2020 that they used in 2016.
That is not consistency. In 2016 the executive was democrat and the senate republican. It looks like in 2020 the executive will be republican and the senate republican, So it is not the same situation.
There is no rule. There is politics. There is power, but there is no rule.
McConnell and the GOP could block Garland because they had the majority. Had the Democrats had the majority, they would have confirmed Garland and laughed off any mention of the “Biden rule”as the whining of losers.
The “Biden rule” is absurd in the first place. It’ basically says that on Sup Court nominations, the previous presidential election is only good for three years instead of four, and the last mid-term result is only good for one year instead of two.
So long as judicial supremacy reigns, so long as the Sup Court can issue whatever absurd rulings it collectively chooses and the other two branches will just meekly obey it, then appointing good judges is of utmost importance. As such, a Republican-controlled Senate should block any nominee from a Democrat presidency, and a Democrat-controlled Senate should block nominees from a Republican President,, whether it’s the first, second, third or fourth year of the President’s term. And on the other hand, if the Presidency and the Senate are both held by the same party, then a SCOTUS nominee should obviously be confirmed in any year.
If Republicans still have the Senate in 2020 and there is a vacancy, they’d be crazy not to confirm a good nominee from Trump. They’d undo the surprising guts they showed with the Kavanaugh battle and resume their well-earned distinction as The Stupid Party.
I mean, why are they indulging their enemies in the media like this right after a huge victory?