{"id":20850,"date":"2017-04-07T21:08:13","date_gmt":"2017-04-07T21:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=20850"},"modified":"2017-04-07T21:08:13","modified_gmt":"2017-04-07T21:08:13","slug":"shining-moment-carries-baggage-for-mcconnell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=20850","title":{"rendered":"‘Shining moment’ carries baggage for McConnell"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Hill posted a story online with the headline “McConnell’s shining moment.”<\/p>\n

The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, is shining because the body he runs has confirmed Neil Gorsuch to a spot on the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Pardon my anger, but the leader isn’t shining. He stands as a scoundrel, a thief who stole<\/em> the seat from another judge who should have been confirmed in 2016.<\/p>\n

McConnell is boasting that the most “consequential” decision he has made was his decision to block Barack Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, from testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The consequence<\/em> would be to block a vote on the Senate floor.<\/p>\n

Hours after Justice Antonin Scalia died in early 2016, McConnell made clear his intention to prevent President Obama from filling the spot on the court. Some have praised McConnell for blocking the president. I choose to condemn him.<\/p>\n

Politics takes over <\/a><\/p>\n

Gorsuch’s confirmation today was totally expected. The Senate voted 55-44 to approve his confirmation. He earned his court seat on the basis of a rule change that\u00a0McConnell orchestrated in which the Senate abandoned its 60-vote\u00a0rule to end a filibuster. I get that the majority leader was within his rights to change the rule.<\/p>\n

What happened in 2016, though, is the much more egregious transgression. McConnell played raw politics with Obama’s nominee. The\u00a0U.S. Constitution gives the president the power\u00a0to fill federal judgeships. Barack Obama fulfilled his duty. The Senate also has\u00a0the right to reject a nominee.<\/p>\n

The Senate, though, should have heard from Garland. It should have weighed this man’s credentials. It should have\u00a0considered his\u00a0qualifications. It should have received a recommendation from the Judiciary Committee.<\/p>\n

And it should have cast an up-down vote on whether to confirm the president’s nominee.<\/p>\n

Thanks\u00a0to the majority leader’s obstruction, none of that was allowed to occur.<\/p>\n

And to think that\u00a0Mitch McConnell has the\u00a0stones to accuse Democrats<\/em> of playing politics with Supreme Court picks. \u00a0This man, McConnell, has set the standard for politicizing the highest court in America.<\/p>\n

Gorsuch’s confirmation isn’t a “shining moment.” It is permanently soiled by political poison.<\/p>\n\n

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The Hill posted a story online with the headline “McConnell’s shining moment.” The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, is shining because the body he runs has confirmed Neil Gorsuch to a spot on the U.S. Supreme Court. Pardon my anger, but the leader isn’t shining. He stands as a scoundrel, a thief who stole the … Continue reading ‘Shining moment’ carries baggage for McConnell<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[540,1424,6063,3099,6899,5043,5051,5053],"class_list":["post-20850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal-news","tag-barack-obama","tag-donald-trump","tag-merrick-garland","tag-mitch-mcconnell","tag-neil-gorsuch","tag-us-constitution","tag-us-senate","tag-us-supreme-court"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20850"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20851,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20850\/revisions\/20851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}