Joe Biden Fights Back Over An Old Supreme Court Speech: 'There Is No Biden Rule'
Source: Los Angeles Times
A 24-year-old speech Joe Biden made from the Senate floor has been central to Republicans’ argument in recent weeks for denying Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland a confirmation hearing and a vote. Republicans say their refusal to even meet with Garland is no different than what Biden threatened to do in 1992 had a vacancy occurred then, what they have dubbed the Biden rule.
But on Thursday, the vice president, to use the parlance of the Senate, sought to revise and extend his remarks. He charged that Republicans are misrepresenting his comments and setting up what could be a “genuine constitutional crisis.”
“It's frankly ridiculous. There is no Biden rule,” Biden told an audience of law students at Georgetown University’s law school. “There is only one rule I ever followed in the Judiciary Committee. That was the Constitution's clear rule of advice and consent.”
Leaving the Supreme Court divided 4-4 after the death of Antonin Scalia, as Senate Republicans have vowed to do, risked creating “a patchwork Constitution” inconsistent with equal justice and the rule of law, the vice president said.
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/la-na-biden-supreme-court-20160323-story.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
