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babylonsister

(170,963 posts)
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 05:10 PM Mar 2016

McConnell: No New Supreme Court Justice Until The NRA Approves Of The Nominee

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/03/20/3761908/mcconnell-no-new-supreme-court-justice-until-the-nra-approves-of-the-nominee/

McConnell: No New Supreme Court Justice Until The NRA Approves Of The Nominee

by Ian Millhiser Mar 20, 2016 11:33 am


Supreme Court justices are nominated by the president and appointed with the advice and consent of the National Rifle Association, according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

McConnell offered this unusual view of the confirmation process during an interview with Fox News Sunday. In response to a question from host Chris Wallace, who asked if Senate Republicans would consider the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court after the election if Hillary Clinton prevails, McConnell responded that he “can’t imagine that a Republican majority in the United States Senate would want to confirm, in a lame duck session, a nominee opposed by the National Rifle Association and the National Federation of Independent Businesses.”

The Majority Leader’s statement is significant for several reasons. For one thing, it suggests that his previously stated position that “this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new President,” is a sham. Simply put, it’s unlikely that the NRA or the NFIB will change their position on a nominee just because Hillary Clinton is president and not Barack Obama.

But it’s also worth examining exactly who McConnell would give a veto power over nominees. The NFIB, of course, was a plaintiff in NFIB v. Sebelius, the first Supreme Court case seeking to repeal the Affordable Care Act. That lawsuit called upon the justices to impose limits on federal power that even the late Justice Antonin Scalia refused to impose in previous cases (although it’s worth noting that Scalia abandoned his previous principled stance when given the opportunity to cast a vote against Obamacare). When the NFIB isn’t fighting to take health care away from millions of Americans, it fights equally hard against raising the minimum wage.

snip//

So McConnell isn’t simply delegating his duty to evaluate potential Supreme Court nominees to the NRA, he’s deferring to the NRA despite the fact that the gun lobby group’s case against Garland is very thin. It consists of Garland’s single vote to rehear a case that one of his court’s most conservative members also voted to rehear, along with a decision to allow the FBI to continue to perform audits on the background check system after lawmakers sympathetic to the NRA tried and failed to shut those audits down.
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McConnell: No New Supreme Court Justice Until The NRA Approves Of The Nominee (Original Post) babylonsister Mar 2016 OP
The NRA? Since when are they part of the Congress? CaliforniaPeggy Mar 2016 #1
It's what the people of KY elected that grandstanding bastard to do Warpy Mar 2016 #5
The NRA has legally purchased a timeshare ownership of Congress over the past three decades. Scuba Mar 2016 #13
... Electric Monk Mar 2016 #14
The only surprising thing SCantiGOP Mar 2016 #23
It's more the issue and less the money.... TipTok Mar 2016 #41
Yeah, that's it... Scuba Mar 2016 #42
Ok... TipTok Mar 2016 #44
Fuck that shit. The NRA gets absolutely no say in SCOTUS justices. Initech Mar 2016 #2
I don't support the NRA TeddyR Mar 2016 #6
Any time there's a mass shooting, the NRA is to blame. Initech Mar 2016 #12
I am capable of having lots of enemies at the same time. Chan790 Mar 2016 #15
Absolutely. Fuck Ryan Seacrest. Lucky Luciano Mar 2016 #24
What's wrong with Carl & Ted? SCantiGOP Mar 2016 #28
Plenty. Chan790 Mar 2016 #32
Come on, you know Bettie Mar 2016 #43
I know Steven Hayes here in Arkansas and he is a nice guy. LiberalArkie Mar 2016 #31
This Steven Hayes is a pedophile-rapist and murderer on death row in CT... Chan790 Mar 2016 #36
LOL.. Steven down here is bald headed also... But me too. LiberalArkie Mar 2016 #37
I am also anti death penalty totally. It is very hard sometimes. But if we treat them the way they LiberalArkie Mar 2016 #39
Agree! (though not sure about "the island.") maddiemom Mar 2016 #61
To me, anyone we would want killed or imprisoned for life should have no problem LiberalArkie Mar 2016 #63
Oh--You meant the "criminals" who were exiled to the "Brithish colonies" of America and Australia maddiemom Mar 2016 #64
I was thinking that once we had a justice system instead of a vengeance system something like LiberalArkie Mar 2016 #65
That doesn't sound very healthy... TipTok Mar 2016 #45
NRA on SCOTUS an Norquist on taxes liberal N proud Mar 2016 #3
Well, any pretense that patriotism or the constitution has ANY meaning to these fucking Jackie Wilson Said Mar 2016 #4
Do your job, McTurtle. It's not the NRA'S job. It's not the RNC's job. It's your effing job. deminks Mar 2016 #7
K&R Solly Mack Mar 2016 #8
NRA??!?!!!.....WTF?!?!?!! Did he misspeak?....TIA?...CVA? AgadorSparticus Mar 2016 #9
The American people did not elect the NRA. surrealAmerican Mar 2016 #10
That's called moving the goal posts. longship Mar 2016 #11
If he wants to play that game... Chan790 Mar 2016 #16
Mr. Obama Turbineguy Mar 2016 #17
So why do we need Congress? nt valerief Mar 2016 #18
I think it's going to be an 8 person supreme court for as long as there's a Democratic President and Bonn1997 Mar 2016 #19
I missed that in the Constitution they claim to worship. NightWatcher Mar 2016 #20
NRA? Really? What's the NRA got to do with our Constitution? U R A Nut! downeastdaniel Mar 2016 #21
They HAVE to know that this won't fly come november.. Volaris Mar 2016 #22
New addition to the Constitution. Private special interest group salin Mar 2016 #25
There must be a virus that causes this type of behavior. gordianot Mar 2016 #26
Double checked - not the Borowitz Report. nt Lucky Luciano Mar 2016 #27
I don't know why people are so surprised. jalan48 Mar 2016 #29
You ugly-souled excuse for a Human ... Jopin Klobe Mar 2016 #30
They're obviously playing games. dmm80 Mar 2016 #33
Fucking ninja turtle. I'm telling Master Splinter!!!! dmm80 Mar 2016 #34
These republican assholes sulphurdunn Mar 2016 #35
Pandering to the death industry. Way to go McCokehead! Rex Mar 2016 #38
Wow. I thought this was going to be from The Onion. n/t pnwmom Mar 2016 #40
That is F***ED UP !!! eom vkkv Mar 2016 #46
They must be like NASCAR SCVDem Mar 2016 #47
McConnell = The best government money can buy! B Calm Mar 2016 #48
You can't spell NRA without (R). KamaAina Mar 2016 #49
just proves the repubs are bought and paid for Angry Dragon Mar 2016 #50
Fuck you, Mitch shenmue Mar 2016 #51
Kick! red dog 1 Mar 2016 #52
Gee, the American Bar Association used to be the outfit to vet judicial nominees Jack Rabbit Mar 2016 #53
So now the NRA is sus453 Mar 2016 #54
I just checked. The NRA is not mentioned in the Second Amendment. Agnosticsherbet Mar 2016 #55
Violates the Constitution SusanLarson Mar 2016 #56
McConnell is a moron liberalfromaustin21 Mar 2016 #57
Or, he's wary that the next President will be from the Democratic party... C Moon Mar 2016 #58
...anybody they don't shoot can have the job?... Ken Burch Mar 2016 #59
is this the onion? MariaThinks Mar 2016 #60
Yes, we are ruled by un-elected, over-privileged cronies & martinets. librechik Mar 2016 #62

CaliforniaPeggy

(149,307 posts)
1. The NRA? Since when are they part of the Congress?
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 05:13 PM
Mar 2016

It's almost funny to see McConnell tying himself in knots to keep Garland from getting a fair hearing and vote.

Warpy

(110,912 posts)
5. It's what the people of KY elected that grandstanding bastard to do
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 05:24 PM
Mar 2016

He doesn't give a damn about the oath he took when he got back into office. He just cares about where the money rolls in from.

 

Scuba

(53,475 posts)
13. The NRA has legally purchased a timeshare ownership of Congress over the past three decades.
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 06:55 PM
Mar 2016

They share that ownership with big oil, big pharma and other CongressionalTimeshare™ investors.

SCantiGOP

(13,856 posts)
23. The only surprising thing
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 07:59 PM
Mar 2016

Is that he doesn't hesitate to admit it. Ten years ago no one would have acknowledged this publicly.

 

TipTok

(2,474 posts)
41. It's more the issue and less the money....
Mon Mar 21, 2016, 09:50 AM
Mar 2016

Actual dollars donated are a drop in the bucket compared to other special interests.

The real point is that these politicians know they won't get re-elected if the don't push this as every chance.

 

Scuba

(53,475 posts)
42. Yeah, that's it...
Mon Mar 21, 2016, 10:03 AM
Mar 2016
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/211321-poll-most-gun-owners-support-universal-background-checks

Poll: 92 percent of gun owners support universal background checks

Ninety-two percent of voters, including 92 percent of gun owners and 86 percent of Republicans, support background checks prior to all gun sales, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University.

The results indicate that, while the proposed shift to universal background checks has stirred intense partisan bickering inside the Beltway, it's not nearly as controversial throughout the rest of the country.

Initech

(99,915 posts)
2. Fuck that shit. The NRA gets absolutely no say in SCOTUS justices.
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 05:15 PM
Mar 2016

They are the enemy. They are terrorist enablers. If they get a say on SCOTUS picks, we are done for.

 

TeddyR

(2,493 posts)
6. I don't support the NRA
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 05:33 PM
Mar 2016

But you really think "they are the enemy"? ISIS is the enemy, Al Qaeda, not the NRA. And which terrorists exactly did the NRA "enable"? And please, no platitudes, but which terrorists were directly aided and abetted by the NRA?

Initech

(99,915 posts)
12. Any time there's a mass shooting, the NRA is to blame.
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 06:04 PM
Mar 2016

Any time a kid gets a hold of a gun and uses it to shoot someone or themselves, the NRA is to blame. Any time Congress passes laws that make it easier to get guns in the hands of people who should not have them, like the Sandy Hook shooter, the NRA is to blame. That is how they enable domestic terrorism.

 

Chan790

(20,176 posts)
15. I am capable of having lots of enemies at the same time.
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 07:08 PM
Mar 2016

It's not like "Oh, the NRA is my enemy now; I'll have to like the Clintons and forgive Al Qaeda for killing several close friends with a motherfucking airplane."

People that Chan790 considers first-class enemies on a daily basis:
Wayne LaPierre
Al From
Ayman al-Zawahiri
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
Clarence Thomas
Mitch McConnell
Donald Trump
Ted Cruz
Paul Ryan
John Rowland
Steven Hayes
Carl and Ted from work
Ryan Seacrest

I could name more...but the point has been made; I consider a lot of different people enemies and am capable of hating them all on a daily basis...and even simultaneously. My enmity for one does nothing to reduce my enmity for the others.

Bettie

(15,998 posts)
43. Come on, you know
Mon Mar 21, 2016, 10:21 AM
Mar 2016

that on his own Ted would be OK, it's just Carl leading him down that path.

Point made.

 

Chan790

(20,176 posts)
36. This Steven Hayes is a pedophile-rapist and murderer on death row in CT...
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 08:25 PM
Mar 2016

As an anti-capital-punishment activist, I feel compelled to work along with dozens of other people to save his life...but it's hard because he's loathesome and evil; manipulative, cruel, cracks jokes about his crime, shows no remorse, and his favorite pastime is to threaten suicide constantly so he can spend a night in the much comfier hospital-ward and waste guards' time having to rip his entire cell apart looking for things he could use to kill himself. His second favorite pastime is to file frivolous motions to accelerate his execution, usually on grounds he knows will never be approved, typically because they're insane. ("I want to die because everything in my cell is gray and I hate gray.&quot

The fact that he annihilated the entire family of my mother's endocrinologist doesn't make him any easier to like, let me tell you.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheshire,_Connecticut,_home_invasion_murders

This is Steven Hayes. If you ever wanted proof that opposition to the death penalty is about a principle and not the inmate...he'd be it. Never in my life have I worked so hard to spare the life of someone I'll be so happy to see dead of natural causes.

LiberalArkie

(15,686 posts)
39. I am also anti death penalty totally. It is very hard sometimes. But if we treat them the way they
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 08:36 PM
Mar 2016

kill us, it is not justice, it is vengeance.

The movies that have an island for a prison has always been a good idea. 0-10 years in a prison, any thing more to the island..

maddiemom

(5,106 posts)
61. Agree! (though not sure about "the island.")
Tue Mar 22, 2016, 10:00 AM
Mar 2016

Most other "civilized" (as we in the U.S. define them) countries don't have a death penalty these days. A life sentence with no possibility of parole, unless further evidence exonerated (as has too often happened when too late), would make more sense. Too expensive? What bullshit! We could start eliminating the the minor drug related, non-violent crimes sentences now keeping all too many locked up.

LiberalArkie

(15,686 posts)
63. To me, anyone we would want killed or imprisoned for life should have no problem
Tue Mar 22, 2016, 10:09 AM
Mar 2016

trying to survive on an island. It seemed to work for the Brits and Australia a long time ago. But before we got to that point, we have to have a real justice system instead of a vengeance system. And we have a long way to go on that.

maddiemom

(5,106 posts)
64. Oh--You meant the "criminals" who were exiled to the "Brithish colonies" of America and Australia
Tue Mar 22, 2016, 12:37 PM
Mar 2016

etc.,back in the day. "Island" sounded a bit more of a reality show and threw me off. All too many in those days were sent through vengeance and were impressive movers and shakers. Today they would mostly be victims of archaic drug laws. Where should we send them?

LiberalArkie

(15,686 posts)
65. I was thinking that once we had a justice system instead of a vengeance system something like
Tue Mar 22, 2016, 12:41 PM
Mar 2016

that would work. Maybe in 50 years, I hope.

Jackie Wilson Said

(4,176 posts)
4. Well, any pretense that patriotism or the constitution has ANY meaning to these fucking
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 05:16 PM
Mar 2016

assholes is gone.

And evidently many around here are fine with a GOP white house.

AgadorSparticus

(7,963 posts)
9. NRA??!?!!!.....WTF?!?!?!! Did he misspeak?....TIA?...CVA?
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 05:39 PM
Mar 2016

What the hell does the NRA have to do with electing a SCOTUS?

surrealAmerican

(11,340 posts)
10. The American people did not elect the NRA.
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 05:47 PM
Mar 2016

Unfortunately, some of then did elect your incompetent ass, Mitch. Do your job.

 

Chan790

(20,176 posts)
16. If he wants to play that game...
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 07:28 PM
Mar 2016

then no GOP nominee to the federal bench should ever be confirmed without the approval of the AFL-CIO and the unanimous consent of the parents of the children murdered in Newtown by Adam Lanza.

Bonn1997

(1,675 posts)
19. I think it's going to be an 8 person supreme court for as long as there's a Democratic President and
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 07:43 PM
Mar 2016

Republican Senate. I don't think they'll ever allow a shift in the court.

Volaris

(10,260 posts)
22. They HAVE to know that this won't fly come november..
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 07:52 PM
Mar 2016

And that it's going to SERIOUSLY jeopardize down-ticket races.

salin

(48,954 posts)
25. New addition to the Constitution. Private special interest group
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 07:59 PM
Mar 2016

has the power to advice and consent.

So then what is the purpose of the senators? Just send the GOPers home and give all their votes to the NRA. So implies the Senate Majority leader.

Jopin Klobe

(779 posts)
30. You ugly-souled excuse for a Human ...
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 08:03 PM
Mar 2016

... the NRA has no business being involved in the choice of a Judge for the Supreme Court ...

... you've lost all pretense of judgement or ethics ...

... and ...

... you have no business being involved in the running of our country ...

 

sulphurdunn

(6,891 posts)
35. These republican assholes
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 08:17 PM
Mar 2016

are arrogantly spitting on their oaths of allegiance to the Constitution of the United States. Their fucking Confederate forebears did the same goddamn thing in 1860 when the called themselves democrats. They were traitors then and they are traitors now.

 

Rex

(65,616 posts)
38. Pandering to the death industry. Way to go McCokehead!
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 08:33 PM
Mar 2016

The GOP needs to die off ASAP, the country cannot take much more of their destructive policies.

 

SCVDem

(5,103 posts)
47. They must be like NASCAR
Mon Mar 21, 2016, 01:51 PM
Mar 2016

I want the turtle in an NRA jacket and hat.

Truth in obstruction and honesty in loyalty.

Jack Rabbit

(45,984 posts)
53. Gee, the American Bar Association used to be the outfit to vet judicial nominees
Mon Mar 21, 2016, 05:29 PM
Mar 2016

They seem more qualified to do so than the reprobates in the NRA or NFIB. Or the Senate, for that matter, but that's our fault for not holding the Senate to higher standards and letting reprobates like McConnel, Grassley and Cruz into what is ironically called "the world's most exclusive club."

 

SusanLarson

(284 posts)
56. Violates the Constitution
Mon Mar 21, 2016, 09:20 PM
Mar 2016
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.


The Supreme Court has interpreted this provision broadly, saying that any required oath to serve anything other than the Constitution is invalid. In the case of Ex parte Garland, the Court overturned a loyalty oath that the government had tried to apply to pardoned Confederate officials. As the officials had already received full presidential pardons (negating an argument based on their potential status as criminals), the Court ruled that forcing officials and judges to swear loyalty oaths was unconstitutional.

C Moon

(12,188 posts)
58. Or, he's wary that the next President will be from the Democratic party...
Tue Mar 22, 2016, 01:45 AM
Mar 2016

so he's trying to add more equations and excuses as to why they don't need to add a Justice under a Democratic President.

librechik

(30,663 posts)
62. Yes, we are ruled by un-elected, over-privileged cronies & martinets.
Tue Mar 22, 2016, 10:08 AM
Mar 2016

Criminals, and war criminals.



Since we did nothing about 1963 and nothing about Watergate and nothing in 2001-2003, now they penetrate us from top to bottom and utterly control our voting process and every other aspect of our teeny tiny democracy, (small enough to drown in the bathtub!)

What are we going to do about it? Voting for Coke or Pepsi is not going to change anything. Unelected oligarchs have us all invisibly chained.

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