In a major flip-flop, power grab and classic case of Republican hypocrisy, President Trump and most Senate Republicans are pushing to rush through a nominee to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — just 46 days before the Nov. 3 election.
Democratic Senate write-in candidate Preston Love decried the GOP power grab:
“We have not heard a peep from Sasse and Fischer on their intended vote,” Love said. “Their lack of transparency is shameful, though predictable.”
NDP Chair Jane Kleeb echoed that sentiment:
“Sasse and Fischer are showing what we have always known — that they are puppets of Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,” Kleeb said. “This is a brazen power-grab no matter how the Republicans try to spin it to the public. The good news is Nebraska voters are not stupid and will see right through the hypocrisy. We have a real chance to end the one-party rule that leaves us with situations just like this — power-hungry politicians who forgot they are there to do the work of the people.”
Background:
On March 16, 2016, with about 10 months left in his second term, President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court to succeed Antonin Scalia, who had died one month earlier.
Republicans blocked the nomination, saying the choice should be left to the next president.
Sen. Fischer said at the time in 2016: “It is crucial for Nebraskans and all Americans to have a voice in the selection of the next person to serve a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court, and there is precedent to do so. Therefore, I believe this position should not be filled until the election of a new president.”
Sen. Sasse said at the time in 2016: “I think that the president’s nominee to the Supreme Court is obviously dead on arrival,” Sasse told reporters after giving a speech about the importance of the Constitution. Which is of course appropriate for his hypocritical years in office given Sasse just wrote an editorial ripping the Constitution apart by suggesting Senators should get 12 not 6-year terms.
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