Why I expect my Senators to Filibuster Any Supreme Court Nominee

The short version is this: Republicans owe us one, and we absolutely should not cooperate until they remedy that situation.

Here is a slightly longer version: Like many tens of millions of Americans, I voted for Barack Obama, twice. When I voted for him, it was because I wanted him to do the things Presidents do, such as nominating Supreme Court justices. My side won those contests, twice, by solid margins. That’s democracy.

When Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans decided that they would not even consider any nomination from President Obama, they also decided that my vote, and millions of others, would be ignored. Democracy be damned, the hell with what the voters want. They would only represent the interests of their own minority party.

It was more than unprecedented, more than brazen. It was an unmistakable assault on democracy, and a slap in the face to those of us who thought our majority vote had meaning.

And if Senate Democrats allow a vote on any Trump nominee, they are saying loud and clear that what Mitch McConnell did was fine, no problem here. And that, too, would be a slap in the face to someone like me who not only voted for President Obama, but also has consistently supported the Democratic Senators in my state (Washington.) What Republicans did was wrong, a bridge too far, and I expect my Senators, and every Democrat in the Senate, to protest with all their might, and to make it clear that we will never accept the Republican refusal to consider Merrick Garland.

Call it the Mitch McConnell rule: “We don’t have to ratify any Supreme Court Justice, ever, and we don’t need any reason.” That is, after all, a very fair reading of McConnell’s stance. Let everyone know that you are only following Senator McConnell’s lead. Then make it clear that the only way to remedy the situation is for Donald Trump to nominate Merrick Garland.

Please, I’m begging you, Senators, take a stand here. Let me know that my voice matters, that you will do everything in your power to right a clear wrong. Let’s face it, if the situation had been exactly reversed and Democrats had done what Republicans did, Mitch McConnell would have had a fit, which means that even Mitch McConnell thinks that what he did was absolutely the wrong thing to do. Let him know you feel the same way. And let your constituents know that you won’t ever back down.