They did not confirm Merrick Garland because they KNEW the fix was in

[onenote]

66. No. They didn't confirm Garland because that decision worked for them politically

Last edited Mon Jun 26, 2017, 11:53 AM - Edit history (1)

There was no "fix in" that influenced the decision. Hell, the Repub leadership was announcing that they weren't going to consider an Obama-nominated replacement for Scalia within hours of Scalia's death in mid February 2016 -- well before it was known who the repub nominee was going to be. In fact, around that time there were polls showing Clinton trailing several of the repub contenders (and Sanders doing better than Clinton in some contests). The decision to block Garland was motivated simply by a decision to play to the repub base. If and when it there was enough of an outcry for the repubs to re-think that strategy, they would have. But it never came -- there never appeared to be an electoral downside for them blocking Garland. Essentially, Democrats were outraged, but the repub base supported it. And independents seemed not to give much of a damn.