Justice Antonin Scalia died on Feb. 13. On March 16, President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to fill that vacancy. At the time of the nomination, on average, Supreme Court nominees had been confirmed, rejected or withdrawn within 25 days. The all-time record was the 114 days it took the Senate to reject George H.W. Bush’s nomination of Robert Bork. It has now been nearly six months since Garland was nominated, and the Senate is nowhere near conducting any hearings on the nomination.
Shortly after the Garland nomination, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said: “The American people are perfectly capable of having their say on this issue, so let’s give them a voice. Let’s let the American people decide. The Senate will appropriately revisit the matter when it considers the qualifications of the nominee the next president nominates, whoever that might be.” It was, he insisted, a decision “about a principle, not a person.”
At the time he spoke those words, nobody — least of all Sen. McConnell — thought that the Republican Party would nominate Donald Trump or that, six weeks before the election, some polls would project a lop-sided defeat for the party’s candidate.
So now the Republicans have started reconsidering the whole strategy, and that canard about this being about “principle” has been exposed for what it is. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, recently said, “If we have the election and there was a majority of the Senate that changed their mind about doing it in the lame duck, as opposed to Jan. 20, I don’t feel that I could stand in the way of that.”
In short, the “principle” to which Sen. McConnell referred is this: The American people should decide who the next Supreme Court justice is, so long as Donald Trump wins the election. If Hillary Clinton wins the election, the will of the American people should immediately be disregarded and the Senate should promptly confirm Judge Garland, thereby depriving the American people of the right to decide.
I don’t know whether schadenfreude or disgust is the proper response. But I’m feeling both.
Charlie Buttrey Thetford
I would like to respond to a piece by Randall Balmer in the Aug. 28 Sunday Valley News, “America in Decline?” I have read it and reread it and am left with a lot of questions. Obviously, he doesn’t like Donald Trump but in fairness, he doesn’t particularly like Hillary Clinton either. He writes, “I have no brief for Clinton. It astounds me that someone so manifestly intelligent can be so foolish — did she seriously believe that Rep. Darrell Issa and his colleagues wouldn’t find out about the private server? — and her behavior at times suggests only a nodding acquaintance with the rudiments of ethical behavior.”
But for me the real issue concerning his article is once again about evangelical Christians who are deeply concerned about our country. I recently wrote a benign letter about what I, as a Christian, am concerned about as the real threats to our country. I stated that factually speaking, the number one threat is nuclear weapons in the hands of rogue nations. Number two, I believe, is the breakdown of the traditional family unit and all the accompanying chaos. Number three is the proliferation of addiction, resulting in crime and lost lives. Number four is the takeover of many of our largest cities by gangs and cartels. Number five is the burgeoning national debt that will soon reach its limit.
If Mr. Balmer disagrees with these, I’d like to know how or why.
As for Christians, I would appreciate it if he’d at least give us a crumb of appreciation for our contributions to society. We personally have recently written a check to Samaritan’s Purse for aid to the flood victims in the South. This organization was one of the first on the scene with their big trucks containing food, clothing and accompanying cars and vans full of volunteer help. But there’s never a mention of those contributions to society.
Warren Biebel Plainfield
Sen. Bernie Sanders will speak at Lebanon High School today on behalf of Hillary Clinton, Maggie Hassan, Annie Kuster and all Democrats up and down the ballot. Doors open at 2 p.m.
Bernie gets it: A vote for a third-party candidate puts Donald Trump one step closer to the White House, a perilous scenario.
Feel the Bern. Hear Sen. Sanders thunder. And vote Democratic in November.
Bob WilliamsonSouth Woodstock