By: Conner Williams Editor-in-Cheif
So, big bad Obama thinks he has the audacity to appoint a justice to the Supreme Court during an election year of all times? Who does he think he is; the President or something? Oh yeah…
As it turns out, the President doesn’t have the option to opt out of appointing a justice to the SCOTUS just because it’s an election year, as many GOP members of the Senate have claimed. Article 2, Section 2 of the Constitution states that the President “shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint…Judges of the Supreme Court.”
Interesting. Maybe I didn’t read it correctly, but I didn’t see anything that said the President may appoint judges, it said that he or she shall do so. There is also nothing in the Constitution that states the President may not appoint a justice during an election year, either. Which means Obama has to appoint a justice.
But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and a large amount of Senate Republicans, including some presidential hopefuls, have publicly voiced that they will block any nomination that Obama proposes.
Many congressional members on the left side of the aisle have publicly condoned this act of “obstructionist politics,” saying that to block any nomination just for the sake of it is to sacrifice the entire system of checks and balances under which our democracy operates. The situation has led to an escalation of yet another feud between the two parties, and I, for one, am sick of it.
Firstly, the Democrats can stop pointing fingers. Many Senate Democrats refused to confirm any justice appointed by President Bush back in 2007, and Obama himself even voted to filibuster one of Bush’s nominations when he was in the Senate. So, what’s with all the outcry when the Republicans do it this time?
I’m a firm believer that much of the debates stirred up by our elected officials are simply to increasingly polarize the country and dig us deeper into the rigged two-party hole that we have created for ourselves. There is no compromise anymore; it’s all about public demonization over which side is trying to ruin the country more. Since when did our legislative system become a jousting match?
Contact the author at journaleditor@wou.edu or on Twitter @journalEIC
