Inside hours — as different senators have been providing condolences to Scalia’s household — McConnell issued a shocking, categorical rejection of Obama’s authority greater than 11 months earlier than the Democrat’s alternative can be sworn into workplace.
“The American individuals ought to have a voice within the collection of their subsequent Supreme Court docket Justice. Subsequently, this emptiness shouldn’t be crammed till we have now a brand new president,” McConnell mentioned.
The ‘Biden rule’
Different main Republicans adopted McConnell’s lead. A motive they regularly cited: What they referred to as the “Biden rule.” Joe Biden had mentioned in a 1992 Senate ground speech — when there have been no excessive court docket vacancies to fill — that “as soon as the political season is beneath means, and it’s, motion on a Supreme Court docket nomination have to be delay till after the election marketing campaign is over.”
McConnell by no means backtracked, regardless of Democrats’ hopes that he would face political stress to take action. On February 23, every week after Scalia’s demise and earlier than Obama had nominated his alternative, McConnell mentioned in a speech on the Senate ground that no Obama nominee would obtain a vote.
“Presidents have a proper to appoint, simply because the Senate has its constitutional proper to supply or withhold consent,” the Kentucky Republican mentioned. “On this case, the Senate will withhold it.”
GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that day signed a letter to McConnell saying they might refuse to carry hearings on any Scalia alternative till after a brand new president took workplace on January 20, 2017. Many Republicans cited the “Biden rule.”
Obama picks Garland
Within the ensuing weeks, Obama solid forward, ignoring Republicans’ insistence that no nominee would obtain a listening to or a vote and selected Garland on March 16. His calculation was {that a} long-time jurist — Garland, then 63, was the chief choose on the US Court docket of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit — who was revered by each events and had been beforehand confirmed by the Senate can be tough to show away.
“I hope they’re truthful,” Obama mentioned of Senate Republicans within the Rose Backyard as he introduced Garland was his alternative. “That is all. I hope they’re truthful.”
Republicans do not budge as Garland clock ticks
However Republicans didn’t budge, making clear on the day Garland was nominated that their place had not modified and he wouldn’t obtain a vote.
“I believe nicely of Merrick Garland. I believe he’s a superb individual. However his nomination doesn’t in any means change present circumstances,” then-Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch mentioned on the time.
Via the summer season and fall, Senate Republicans continued to behave as if no Supreme Court docket emptiness existed and no nomination had been made. On July 20, Garland broke the 100-year-old file of 125 days for the longest hole between a Supreme Court docket nomination and affirmation.
Supreme Court docket exercise slowed drastically. The court docket — aware of potential 4-Four splits — was reluctant to tackle new circumstances.
Court docket turns into election flashpoint
The GOP’s refusal to behave on Obama’s nominee turned the Supreme Court docket right into a key political challenge in November’s normal election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Trump on Might 19, 2016, launched an inventory of potential Supreme Court docket nominees — an inventory formed by conservative allies and aimed toward soothe Republican voters’ issues over whether or not he would nominate right-leaning judges. The promise of anti-abortion, pro-gun rights and anti-LGBTQ rights judges motivated spiritual conservatives who might need had misgivings about Trump’s character.
