Merrick Garland - O's pick for scotus

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

Oh, I quite agree that Obama fulfilled his constitutional obligation to nominate a Justice. The Constitution says that the president "shall nominate", so he was required to do so ("shall" meaning mandatory). Well done! On the other hand, the Senate has no obligation to "advi[s]e and consent", there is no "shall" for them; the Senate has the right (not the obligation) to do so. This is by design.

By the same token, PP, you also have many rights under the Constitution. For example, you are not required to bear arms, but you may do so if you so choose.

Democratic talking points about the Senate "not doing its job" is just political pressure to impress the typical Democratic low-information voter, and is irresponsible.



Well, I disagree with your interpretation of the Constitution...but leaving that aside. Are you really okay with having your elected officials, who earn $174,000/yr + extremely generous benefits that all come from your tax dollars simply refuse to do anything for their entire term just because they don't like/agree with the President? The sight of Mitch McConnell makes me want to puke at this point, but I acknowledge that through his elected office he has the right and responsibility to his constituents to try to move the President's ideas more toward his own views of what is best for the country...but at what point is it a complete abdication of responsibility to the country you serve to even try to get things done instead of making everything a chicken fight (which the R's now have a multi-year track record of losing when the stakes are highest)? If the Senate wants to sit around and do absolutely nothing but grandstand, then why not disband it altogether. So many House and Senate members insult and denigrate government workers, while Feds work their butts off under pay freezes, furloughs, and worse just scrambling to keep the country moderately functioning under conditions where they don't even know whether they'll be able to order new office supplies when they run out of pens or printer paper. If you honestly believe that the Federal government does nothing, then please don't drive on the highways ever, or expect to be able to travel to a foreign country where they want to see proof of citizenship in the form of a passport, or drink tap water or breathe your air without first checking it's quality, or buy any food or medication without first checking for yourself it it's contaminated...and definitely don't expect to get SS checks etc when you retire.


Ya kinda went off the tracks there, huh? You know that the Senate is doing a lot of other things, right? So saying they're not doing their jobs is a lie, right? Why lie? Have you been in DC so long you can't even tell anymore?

And thank you for the defense of the bureaucracy. Don't tell me, you work at BLM at Interior, in charge of the Adopt-a-Horse-or-Burro program, for which we pay how much in taxes?

Anonymous
Ok, name one meaningful thing the senate has actually done recently.

Or the entire congress for that matter.
Anonymous
Also, how about all the tax dollars to oil companies?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Ok, name one meaningful thing the senate has actually done recently.

Or the entire congress for that matter.


I found this summary of the major legislative accomplishments of 2015. It makes me a little sad that I didn't hear more about some of them at the time -- it would have been nice to have highlighted more of the instances where the branches actually worked together instead of always zeroing in on the gridlock.
Anonymous
In the category of "that didn't take long," Mark Kirk more or less told McConnell and the rest of the GOP leadership to grow a set of balls and give Garland a vote.

As for a-hole of the day, Grassley again takes home the award for begrudgingly acknowledging that he is willing to meet with Garland because he's been willing to meet with dictators. Talk about living inside your own echochamber bubble of bullshit.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Ok, name one meaningful thing the senate has actually done recently.

Or the entire congress for that matter.


I found this summary of the major legislative accomplishments of 2015. It makes me a little sad that I didn't hear more about some of them at the time -- it would have been nice to have highlighted more of the instances where the branches actually worked together instead of always zeroing in on the gridlock.


Whooped, a two-year budget deal that cost Boehner his Speakership, a five-year transportation bill that is woefully inadequate, some fiddling with NCLB and the Medicare "Doc Fix." Time to put the feet up and celebrate all the hardwork expended on behalf of the American people. Bravo!

http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/yearlycomparison.pdf
Anonymous
What is wrong with just following the Biden rule?

He was chairman of the Judiciary committee and is now the VP........ he has credibility and strives for bipartisanship.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:What is wrong with just following the Biden rule?

He was chairman of the Judiciary committee and is now the VP........ he has credibility and strives for bipartisanship.


First, it was never implemented as a "rule"...hasn't even been tested out. Second, even Biden was careful to exclude a situation like this one, where the vacancy occurred almost a year before the election:

http://www.mediaite.com/online/heres-why-the-biden-rule-is-complete-crap/
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:What is wrong with just following the Biden rule?

He was chairman of the Judiciary committee and is now the VP........ he has credibility and strives for bipartisanship.


Because it's a dumb rule.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:What is wrong with just following the Biden rule?

He was chairman of the Judiciary committee and is now the VP........ he has credibility and strives for bipartisanship.


I'm not Joe Biden, I never voted him into the Senate, so I'm not bound by some hypothetical he expressed an opinion on 24 years ago. So I get to have an opinion of my own, regardless of what Biden said 24 years ago about a situation that never actually came to pass, and I get to have an expectation that my elected representatives will take that into consideration.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:What is wrong with just following the Biden rule?

He was chairman of the Judiciary committee and is now the VP........ he has credibility and strives for bipartisanship.


I'm not Joe Biden, I never voted him into the Senate, so I'm not bound by some hypothetical he expressed an opinion on 24 years ago. So I get to have an opinion of my own, regardless of what Biden said 24 years ago about a situation that never actually came to pass, and I get to have an expectation that my elected representatives will take that into consideration.


Also, can we please be clear that Biden never said that if a vacancy occurred, the current president shouldn't nominate someone, what he said was that the Senate should delay hearings until after the election so that election politics didn't taint the advise and consent process. According to Biden's rule, the day after the election, the president should have felt free to nominate someone, and the Senate should move forward with the confirmation process. That's fundamentally different from what McConnell is demanding here.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:What is wrong with just following the Biden rule?

He was chairman of the Judiciary committee and is now the VP........ he has credibility and strives for bipartisanship.


I'm not Joe Biden, I never voted him into the Senate, so I'm not bound by some hypothetical he expressed an opinion on 24 years ago. So I get to have an opinion of my own, regardless of what Biden said 24 years ago about a situation that never actually came to pass, and I get to have an expectation that my elected representatives will take that into consideration.


No, you really don't care about the Supreme Court. You just don't. Stop. You just see this as a wedge political issue.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:What is wrong with just following the Biden rule?

He was chairman of the Judiciary committee and is now the VP........ he has credibility and strives for bipartisanship.


I'm not Joe Biden, I never voted him into the Senate, so I'm not bound by some hypothetical he expressed an opinion on 24 years ago. So I get to have an opinion of my own, regardless of what Biden said 24 years ago about a situation that never actually came to pass, and I get to have an expectation that my elected representatives will take that into consideration.


No, you really don't care about the Supreme Court. You just don't. Stop. You just see this as a wedge political issue.


Just because that's the way you see the world doesn't mean everyone else is the same. Stop projecting your own nonsense.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:What is wrong with just following the Biden rule?

He was chairman of the Judiciary committee and is now the VP........ he has credibility and strives for bipartisanship.


I'm not Joe Biden, I never voted him into the Senate, so I'm not bound by some hypothetical he expressed an opinion on 24 years ago. So I get to have an opinion of my own, regardless of what Biden said 24 years ago about a situation that never actually came to pass, and I get to have an expectation that my elected representatives will take that into consideration.


No, you really don't care about the Supreme Court. You just don't. Stop. You just see this as a wedge political issue.


Huh? We're all lawyers here. Yes, we actually care about the Supreme Court.
Anonymous
Now that the Senate is on Easter recess, can't Obama just make a recess appointment?
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