The rate at which politics moves in the Trump era is enough to give anyone whiplash. Just a bit more than a week ago, I was exhorting all of you not to neglect the impact you could have on Senate races, And here we are.
Somewhat random, but nevertheless relevant thoughts:
First and foremost, in our political culture's abandonment of decency, and specifically the Republican lust for power above all else, we have largely neglected to do what any decent country would do in the wake of losing someone with the level of human and professional accomplishment achieved by Ruth Bader Ginsburg: to focus on mourning the loss of her, and on her greatness. While I am completely confident that the latter will be enshrined in history--indeed, to a great extent, it already has--we have not even taken a full day, or even a few hours, as a nation to come together and honor not just an outstanding public servant, but a wonderful human being with the greatest accomplishment any human being can achieve: family and friends. Their loss is greater than ours. And it has, for the most part, almost entirely overlooked by far too many of us.
For my part, I'll sum it up this way. She was someone who understood that a denial of freedom to some of us was a denial of freedom to all of us. She was someone who understood that democracy enabled us to disagree agreeably, and that doing so was the only path to a more perfect Union. And she was someone whose wisdom and warmth inspired people to embrace her to a degree that seldom happens to those in the legal profession.
Well, sadly, not all people. If nothing else, this disgusting story allows me to pivot to an unavoidable topic: the political aftermath to Justice Ginsburg's death.
As of this morning, and even before a specific nominee to replace her has been made, Mitch McCONnell appears to have enough votes to ram that nominee through the Senate successfully, literally weeks and perhaps as little as days before a general election. It's been said many times already, but it can't be said enough: this is of course the same Mitch McCONnell who repeatedly declared, a bit over four years ago, that no judicial nomination to the federal bench could be allowed to proceed in an election year, to allow the will of the people to be heard with respect to said nomination.
In fact, he claimed that this position was a rule of the Senate, enshrined by Joseph Biden back when Biden was still a member of the Senate. This position is based on an out-of-context quote from Biden back then, and overlooks the fact that, as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he oversaw the confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice in the last year of Ronald Reagan's second term--specifically, Anthony Kennedy, the Justice eventually replaced by Brett Kavanaugh (who clerked for Kennedy).
Now, in response to the bipartisan effort to underscore his hypocrisy, McCONnell is now saying "Oops! Did I forget to mention that the rule has a subsection that waives it for years when the Republicans hold the White House and the Senate?" Yes, Mitch you did. And you forgot to include find a Biden quote to support the "subsection," because no such quote exists. In fact, should you need further proof of how muddled his "thinking" about the confirmation process is, take a look here, where he describes it as an obligation and a choice. It's either one or the other, Mitch. At some point, reality demands that you stop talking out of both sides of your mouth.
Unfortunately, the problem here is not just the fact that, however twisted McCONnell's comments are, there's much more at stake than exposing the self-serving hypocrisy of the Republican Party, and its Senate caucus. A 6-to-3 conservative majority has the power to upend the Roe ruling, and thus make abortion law either a state-by-state patchwork or, worse, a real-life version of "The Handmaid's Tale." Indeed, a majority of that size has the power to do what movement conservatives have wanted to do ever since the New Deal: to dismantle the entire administrative state and leave every one of us to fend for ourselves. They allegedly want to protect our "liberty," as defined by now-overruled Supreme Court cases such as Lochner v. New York. This would be, of course, the "liberty" to be oppressed by those who have the power and the need to do so. It would, effectively, replace the so-called "nanny state" with a Bully state.
And, when confronted with the prospect of a Bully state on the horizon, there is no alternative but to bully right back. I'm sorry, but the days of reaching across the aisle and putting bipartisanship first are over. That's precisely why this won't do.
Rather, this will have to do. I'm not crazy about it, but I'm not about to stick my head into the sand when all of us are about to be swamped, by the Republicans and by their destruction of not only our political system, but also our planet. Too many people sacrificed everything to carry us this far.
Will Democrats in Washington wake up at last? Will they stop bringing Robert's Rules of Order to what stopped being a knife fight a long time ago, and has been full-scale carnage ever since?
Maybe.
There's the September 30th deadline for the federal budget. There's the ability to deny the Senate a quorum. There's the ability of one or more Senators to take the floor and hold it for as long as they can. There are probably other aspects of the rules that allow Democratic Senators to delay, IF they have the fortitude to use them.
Personally, years of observation and frustration have made me deeply cynical when it comes to the likelihood of this happening. But there are glimmers of hope, here and there, like this one.
Do it, Chuck. Do it, Nancy.
If you don't, it may lead to the death of more than a justice.
And baruch dayan ha'emess, RBG.
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