It’s Time To Battle Congressional Republicans, And Restore The Supreme Court With Merrick Garland
Every time the Supreme Court has been in the news since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, it’s unavoidable to mention that congressional Republicans have taken a united stand against holding hearings for President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, to take Scalia’s place.
The Republican refusal was once front page news, but time is a killer and we were hard-pressed to bring it up, making it a lot easier for Republicans to go about their day without having to address it.
But Senator Tim Kaine, who is rumored to be a potential Hillary Clinton vice president nominee, went after Republicans this week from the Senate floor, about their obstruction.
Augusta Free Press covered his blasting of the GOP, on the 62nd anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, where he went down a list of everything Republicans have done to oppose the president from the beginning.
He was speaking on how his constituents view their obstruction of the nation’s first African-American president and perhaps, suggesting that it was the main reason for eight years of opposition politics.
When a senator has the floor, speaking is mandatory but listening isn’t and there’s no doubt that Republicans have even refused to do that, as they likely do it all of the time.
In a previous story on the Inquisitr about the various tactics the GOP has used to make sure there is support for their anti-Obama campaign, which includes footage of Senator Al Franken going after Senators Hatch and Grassley, who have specifically been more vocal about their support to not holding any hearings for Garland, Senator Franken says that he used to be in the business of absurdity, before getting into politics.
But at the end of his time to speak on the issue, Franken again reminded them on what he used to do professionally — as a cast member and writer of Saturday Night Live — he knows for a fact, that by refusing to hold any hearings, they too were being absurd.
Despite this however, the obstructionist GOP refused to acknowledge that they even knew what he was talking about, or that they understood his example of the GOP engaging in double-speak, even when Franken provided concrete examples right in front of them.
All of which is exactly part of the plan, to even deny that the GOP knows what that concept is, even when it’s put right in front of them, in order to ignore it and move onto something else.
The Republicans refusal to work with this sitting president is a testament that they seek to deny the majority of the voices who elected him — twice.
Months later, those of us who are still furious about this are wondering just what anyone is doing to make sure some of the powers that be, get this president’s nominee a hearing and perhaps even to spite the GOP, putting him in Scalia’s place.
Inquisitr also wrote about the possibility that Democrats were working on some plan to get something to happen, at the very least, to put a spotlight on the issue again for the press.
Recently The Daily Beast published a report of the current GOP-led congress and how by doing absolutely nothing — about not just the Garland hearings but other nominations — they are impacting the lower district courts too, claiming that it is now a judicial emergency.
But now it appears that the plan Democrats have been working on, is being put into action as this week as they held a mock hearing without Republicans.
Rep. Elizabeth Etsy of Connecticut will introduce legislation she authored on Wednesday along with other Democrats, to prevent congress from taking a recess, until they hold hearings by July 19, according to the Washington Post.
Now it’s going to be up to a handful of Senate Democrats to take a stand against Republicans, and enforce the will of the people. In a do-nothing Congress, somebody has to do something.
[Image by Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo]
