Obviously logic doesn’t work for Mitch McConnell and his cronies. Leaving the ninth seat in the Supreme Court vacant for any length of time is idiocy, but the right wing has become so extreme that it chooses not to see it that way. There are nine justices in order to prevent a tie; and that’s it. Ties would make the Court dysfunctional.

If Republicans have it their way, it would be approximately one year until the Court was able to properly perform its duties. They claim that the ‘right thing to do’ is to wait until after November’s election. They are sorely mistaken. Precedent has been set, and it is President Obama’s duty and right to nominate a successor for Antonin Scalia during his final year in office.

Six ‘lame-duck’ presidents nominated Supreme Court Justices, and one-third of all presidents nominated a Justice in an election year.

The ‘lame-ducks’ were Harrison, Hayes, Tyler, Van Buren, Jackson and Adams. Just to name a few of those who nominated Justices in an election year are FDR, Nixon, Eisenhower, and Wilson.

Richard Nixon used the appointments of two Justices to win reelection, when in 1972, the nominations of William Rehnquist and Lewis Powell kept a campaign promise. He told supporters that he would move the Court away from the liberal Warren-era.

Today obstructionist Mitch McConnell is attempting to conduct the exact reverse action of Nixon, but is once again attempting to keep the Court slanted to the right.

Republicans have convinced me that their party, and therefore our nation’s government, are irreparable. Watching and listening to campaigns which are nothing more than schoolyard brawls, have proven that there is a lack of intellect in the GOP. It cannot be fixed if everyone is saying ‘no,’ and none of them will sit down and talk to each other.

Republican voters must blame themselves. It is entirely obvious that they voted for a party and not for qualified candidates. They also failed to demand leadership which would have changed the party’s direction, and demanded that it be more moderate and actually function as a deliberative body.

Op-Ed

By James Turnage

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Photo Courtesy of DonkeyHotey

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