Republicans do Constitution a disservice by denying Supreme Court nomination

Within two hours (per NBC News) of the announcement of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his GOP cronies announced that there would be no hearings for, or consideration of, the late justice’s replacement by President Barack Obama.

As of this writing (Feb. 16), Obama has 338 calendar days left in his term. The Supreme Court’s current session lasts until June. Its next session starts “the first Monday in October” (Oct. 3).

That means that by the time the next president is sworn in, on Jan. 20, 2017, four months of the court’s current term and, at a minimum, four months of its next term will have passed without the court ruling on critical issues it has agreed to hear. It will take a number of months to hold hearings and confirm a new associate justice, assuming the next president’s first choice is confirmed, making it one and a half court sessions without a ninth justice.

Every senator, as well as the president, has sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. The court is supposed to have nine members, not eight.

By not being willing to consider President Obama’s choice to replace Justice Scalia, Republicans are doing themselves, the Senate, the country and the Constitution they’ve sworn to uphold a disservice.

This story was originally published March 5, 2016 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Republicans do Constitution a disservice by denying Supreme Court nomination."