As the current Supreme Court term is about to approach its end, some Democrats, who remember how the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg kind of fucked us all over by not retiring during the Obama years, are now starting to push for Justice Stephen Breyer to step down so that President Joe Biden can appoint his successor while the Democrats still control the Senate. As Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal put it somewhat delicately in April, Breyer “recognizes, I am sure, the political reality of our having control of the Senate now,” adding, “[E]lections always have risks, so hopefully he’s aware of that risk and he sees it accordingly.” On Sunday, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shared that she agrees that Breyer should retire. Breyer, my dude, you’re 82! Go enjoy your life while you still have it!
Hewitt asked McConnell what he would do if he once again became Senate Majority Leader next year and there was a vacancy to fill on the Supreme Court.“Let me ask you, if you regain the majority in 2022 for the Republicans, and there’s a very good chance of that happening… would the rule that you applied in 2016 to the Scalia vacancy apply in 2024 to any vacancy that occurred then?” Hewitt asked.
In so many words, McConnell responded, of course, duh, I’m Mitch McConnell, what do you think! “I don’t think either party, if it controlled, if it were different from the president, would confirm a Supreme Court nominee in the middle of an election,” McConnell replied, adding, “What was different in 2020 was we were of the same party as the president.” Hewitt also asked what he would do if there were a vacancy on the Court in 2023. “Would they get a fair shot at a hearing, not a radical, but a normal mainstream liberal?” Hewitt asked. McConnell, again in so many words, replied, hell no. “Well, we’d have to wait and see what happens,” he said.
