Justice Ginsburg, who was 87, leaves an enormous legacy, and not only as the second female Justice who became a feminist hero....
The Justices’s legal views on most issues were not ours, though we cheered when she was among those who looked skeptically in recent years on abusive political prosecutions. As the Court moved modestly to the right in the last 15 years, the Justice became more vocal in her progressive views on and off the bench. She became known as the Notorious RBG for speaking more bluntly than most Justices do about both the Court and politics. Four years ago she apologized for making critical remarks about then candidate Donald Trump.
Her death leaves three solid liberals on the nine-member Court, and Justice Ginsburg understood the stakes in the decision of who will take her place. National Public Radio reported Friday that the Justice dictated this statement to her granddaughter Clara Spera only days before her death: “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”
But her wish is not the Constitution’s command. The President has the power to nominate a successor as soon as he desires, and the Senate then has the power to confirm or not. The timing of that vote is a matter for the Senate to decide, and the current Senate can hold a confirmation vote even on the last day it is in session if it chooses.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement Friday evening that “President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.” He is right to hold such a vote. The GOP retained its Senate majority in 2018 in large part because of the political backlash from the smearing of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Whether Mr. McConnell holds a vote before or after the election is a prudential political decision based on the likelihood of getting the votes for confirmation....
GOP voters will insist that a Republican Senate vote on Mr. Trump’s nominee in this Congress. Does anyone who has ever met Mr. Schumer think that he wouldn’t insist on a confirmation vote now if he were Majority Leader and a Democrat were President?
The Ginsburg vacancy, and the future of the Supreme Court, will now move front and center in the election. How that plays out is anyone’s guess. Mr. Trump this month added names to his public list of potential nominees, though the press barely paid attention. Joe Biden has declined to release a similar list, perhaps because his campaign feels it would betray liberal choices that would motivate conservative voters for whom the Court has become a dominant issue.
It’s a shame that the Court and the judiciary have become so central to American politics, but that is the legacy of decades of judicial activism. Even as we honor Justice Ginsburg, there is no escaping that political reality this year.
Partying hard tonight!
Let’s get that nomination process going!
No Garland this round!
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