Feinstein Plays Into GOP Narrative On Merrick Garland

I was watching Dianne Feinstein getting interviewed on MSNBC this afternoon and I can’t tell you how disappointing her answer to the question about confirming Gorsuch was. It wasn’t so much that she seemed to waffle about filibustering him as much as she totally gave in to the frame that the GOP used to block Merrick Garland. She says (about 4:13 into interview) “It also sets a precedence of removing from the President of the United States his ability to appoint or nominate a Supreme Court justice in his final year”.  She continued later saying, “I think there has to be an understanding that a real mistake was made in the way Merrick Garland was handled. We’ve got to recover from it. We’ve got to go on. I think we should go on.”

NO! NO! NO! NO! The fact that the particular precedent for the President’s last year has been set may be true but, remember, Republicans immediately said they would refuse to give Merrick Garland a hearing and only later came up with the idea that “the voters should have a say”. In addition, a number of GOP Senators, including the supposed “moderate” John McCain, floated the idea of blocking any appointment that Hillary Clinton would make throughout her entire term, if she won the election. It was not just a “mistake” that was made. It was an unprecedented power grab that will change the course of this country for the next generation or two. It was an attack on the Constitution’s requirement for the Senate to provide “advice and consent” by never even giving Garland a hearing or a vote. It was so much more than a “mistake” that we can “recover from”.

The blocking of Merrick Garland is NOT about just setting a new precedent. It was about denying the rights and will of the voters who put that President in office with the clear understanding of his powers for the full four year term. It was about the majority changing the rules in order to maintain power. It is exactly the same as changing the rules for a Senate committee quorum in order to ram through Mnuchin and Price. It is the majority running roughshod over the minority. More importantly, it is about the destruction of the norms of governance and the checks and balances that ensure our democracy, a democracy that the Trump and GOP are quickly destroying.