ACB
By
Leonard Zwelling
I consider myself a middle-of-the road voter. I have voted for both Republicans and Democrats in the past and will this Election Day as well. I never vote straight ticket and even if I wanted to vote straight ticket, I would take the time to check each box.
I write this paragraph only to put into context my support for the whole Trump-Amy Coney Barrett Supreme Court dance.
First, I can read the Constitution and Mr. Trump is well within his right to nominate someone as soon as a vacancy on the Court comes open. He waited a week showing at least some taste in allowing the mourning for Justice Ginsburg to go on.
Second, Lindsey Graham can take up the nomination as soon as he wishes to convene his Judiciary Committee. After all, they just confirmed Judge Barrett a few years ago for the Court of Appeals, not much has changed since then. She was qualified for that then. She’s qualified for this now, albeit with limited judicial experience on the federal bench.
Third, if the Democrats boycott the hearings, they are the idiots everyone thinks they are. And they ought to meet with Judge Barrett out of courtesy. They shouldn’t do what Mitch and the boys did to Merrick Garland. Act like adults instead. You know. Fake it.
If they have questions for the Judge, ask them, but don’t condone a sit-out in protest of process. If a Democrat had been president now and Clarence Thomas had died, and Democrats controlled the Senate, you can bet they would have done what Trump did only nominating Hillary Clinton for the open seat. Get over it!
Fourth, I may not like Judge Barrett’s positions on a whole lot of issues, abortion and the ACA being two, but she is clearly qualified for this job and seems to me to be a real star in jurisprudence. I love the fact that she has school-age kids and works hard for her kids’ school and for her church. She seems to me to be an up-standing citizen with whom I probably have a bunch of disagreements, but if the Democrats don’t like it, win next time! Stop putting up these very weak candidates for president and expect them to win after you run a lousy campaign, which I believe Vice President Biden is doing now. It is admittedly better than Trump’s, but it’s still mediocre. He can’t keep hiding in the basement in Delaware and win. He still has not closed the sale on why he’s a better bet at 77 than Trump at 73.
All the liberals hoped that Justice Ginsburg could have held on until January. Many of us did for the simple reason that she is such a pioneer and that the people should get a say so in the filling of her seat. Alas, that is not the system.
There’s a lot of noise being made on the left right now about process and “fairness” in the nomination of ACB, but nothing went wrong here. The Constitution spells this all out and everyone is just doing what they have a right to do. Everyone, that is, except Mr. Schumer who continues to gripe about being the minority and the fact that the filibuster is gone when it comes to judicial nominations. If Biden wins and the Dems take the Senate and they want to expand the size of the Court (which is not set by the Constitution) or want to end the filibuster completely, so be it. First they have to win and at the rate they are going, they could still blow this. These are both bad ideas anyway, except maybe getting rid of the filibuster. That might help.
I think Judge Barrett will sail through her confirmation and that a number of Democrats will display sour grapes but do little else of value. We had a saying for this when I was in high school. TS—tough situation!
