Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chair of the Judiciary Committee, should stop voting immediately since he is up for reelection this year, at least until voters know whether or not the senator will be reelected. If this sounds ludicrous, it’s because it is. But this is precisely the flawed logic of Grassley, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and at least 33 of their Senate colleagues. These senators argue that, since it’s a presidential election year, President Obama should not fulfill his duty of nominating the next Supreme Court justice and that we should instead wait for the next president to nominate this justice.
The Constitution is clear: the president has a constitutional responsibility to make a nomination whenever a vacancy occurs, and the Senate has a corresponding responsibility to give that nominee good faith consideration. These responsibilities do not go away in an election year.
The above excerpt was originally published in The Hill.
Click here to view the full article.