Dear Republican Judiciary Committee members - THERE IS NO BIDEN RULE!
I painfully watched a propaganda photo op, where Chuck Grassley - accompanied by other Republicans, and some of Gorsuch's law clerks - claimed that Democratic Senators were playing politics in their rejection of SCOTUS nominee Neil Gorsuch.
Grassley indicated that the nomination of Gorsuch - after the bizarre dismissal of Merrick Garland, last year - was simply an application of the "Biden Rule," which Chuckey characterized as a standard under which Supreme Court nominees should not even be considered during an election year.
The central problems with this argument are --
(1) In 1992, then Senator Joe Biden, expressed an opinion that, during the last three months of the election year, IF an opening on the Supreme Court occurred, it would be inadvisable to confirm President Bush's nominee until after the election. Biden did NOT state that the nomination should be ignored, but that confirmation should be postponed until after the election. That's a WHOLE lot different than what the Republicans did to President Obama's nominee!
(2) When Biden expressed his opinion, no vacancy existed on the Supreme Court.
(3) There was no actual nominee to be considered.
(4) Biden's statement was an OPINION, and the Senate did NOT formally consider it or adopt it as a rule. It never became a RULE.
In other words, the Republicans are once again bullshiting to get what they want. In fact, if they hadn't screwed over Judge Garland and President Obama, there wouldn't even be an opening to fill! In view of these indisputable facts, NO DEMOCRAT SHOULD VOTE IN FAVOR OF NEIL GORSUCH.
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