Across most of the media and even as it has been
discussed by Democratic senators, the replacement of Antonin Scalia on
the Supreme Court has been treated as the normal if politicized thrum of
politics. It was far more serious than that; we've just witnessed
something unprecedented and dangerous and I hope people treat it as
such.
The Republican
Party used their thin majority on the Senate to blockade a nomination by
a sitting US president. The Constitution, a document of just 4543 words
(the length of a magazine article), does not go into great lengths to
pre-adjudicate every instance in which one party attempts to seize the
levers of the judiciary. It says, briefly, just this:
"...and
he* shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls,
judges of the Supreme Court." (Article 2, Section 2)
The
GOP did not advise not consent. They ignored. When it appeared likely
that Hillary Clinton would win the presidency, they toyed publicly with
the idea of blockading any *Clinton* nominee (including the chair of the
judiciary committee, Chuck Grassley). This is the very definition of a
constitutional crisis--when one part of government ignores rules or laws
or exploits their absence to seize power for one political faction. And
that's precisely what happened.
At
the end of the week, Neil Gorsuch, one of the two most conservative
justices nominated in the past 50 years, will be installed on the
Supreme Court. The court will have spent *two entire sessions* with only
eight justices, but Republicans were happy to pay that price. They
flouted existing norms and defied the executive branch and violated the
obvious intention of the founders, who did not intend to give the Senate
a veto (which is why no such language is used).
The
Republicans, many Democrats, and the media will treat this as business
as usual. Many or most will treat the Democratic filibuster--which
doesn't even flout Senate rules, much less violate the constitution--as
the breakdown of norms. This is a dangerously lazy and ahistorical view
of recent events.
As
citizens, we become complicit in the political dysfunction when we allow
it to be normalized. It was not normal--it was a naked power grab and
an assault on the constitution. There's nothing to be done immediately,
but please, do not slip into the habit of thinking what just happened
was normal or appropriate. In 2018, 2020, and 2022, when you're voting
for your senator, remember this moment--and choose accordingly.
______________
*the President, whom 18th-century white men assumed would always be male
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