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In reply to the discussion: They did not confirm Merrick Garland because they KNEW the fix was in [View all]onenote
(43,241 posts)You seem to think that they could be expected to adhere to traditional norms. Well, I for one wasn't surprised in the slightest that they immediately announced they would stonewall any Obama selection made to replace Scalia. I'd have been shocked if they would have done anything else.
The repubs haven't followed the norms when it comes to judicial appointments for years. Why wouldn't they take the next step and apply their obstructionist tactics to the Supreme Court? It played to their base and had no real downside from their perspective. Just as going nuclear to confirm Gorsuch was a break from past norms. That's the way they roll and they didn't need some inside knowledge that they'd win the WH nine months after Scalia died (and eight months after Garland was nominated, with less than four months left in the SCOTUS term), to do exactly what they did. Hell, if Clinton had won, would you really have been surprised if as Cruz threatened, they stonewalled her nominations for as long as they could get away with?
And for what it's worth, I would have hoped the Democrats would have had the spine to do the exact same thing had the shoe been on the other foot.
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