McConnell Reiterates American People Will Be Heard On Supreme Court, Senate Will Continue Work On Important Legislation
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor today regarding the United States Supreme Court vacancy:
“President Obama will fly to Chicago where he will try and convince Americans that, despite his own actions while in the Senate to deny a Supreme Court nominee a vote, the Constitution somehow now requires the Senate to have a vote on his nominee no matter what — and thereby deny the American people a voice in the future of the Supreme Court. In the words of the Washington Post’s Fact Checker, he’ll be ‘telling supporters a politically convenient fairy tale.’
“I’m sure he’ll gloss over the fact that the decision about filling this pivotal seat could impact our country for decades, that it could dramatically affect our most cherished Constitutional rights like those contained in the First and Second Amendments.
“I'm sure he’ll continue to demand that Washington spend its time fighting on one issue where we don’t agree rather than working together on issues where we do.
“I'm sure he'll spend some time refuting the words of his own Vice President.
“I’m sure he’ll repeatedly claim that his nominee is ‘moderate.’
“Not that he means it. It’s just a useful piece of spin that’s been dutifully echoed across the expanse of the Left and in the media for years.
“Consider the recent Democratic Supreme Court nominees. One Washington Post columnist hailed the ‘moderate’ record of President Obama’s first pick to the Supreme Court. One New York newspaper proclaimed his second nominee a ‘pragmatic centrist.’
“When President Clinton made his Supreme Court nominations, the Post declared one a — you guessed it — ‘moderate’ and the New York Times practically fell over itself exalting the ‘resolutely centrist’ style of the other.
“That last nominee, who said it would be a good idea to abolish Mother’s Day by the way, was not just firmly centrist, not just decisively centrist, but resolutely centrist in the Times’ opinion.
“The records of every one of these Supreme Court Justices have been anything but moderate or centrist in the years since — they’ve been resolutely left-wing. But that’s the point. ‘Moderate’ isn’t actually a true descriptor for Democratic Supreme Court nominees, it’s just burned into the printing presses of editorial boards.
“Yet even The New York Times has had to admit that President Obama’s current nominee would give Americans the most left-wing Supreme Court in 50 years. That is why the Far Left is squarely behind President Obama’s campaign to deny the American people a say in this momentous decision. They understand the stakes.
“They don’t want the American people messing this up for them. And they’ll say what they always say to get what they want today: a far-left Supreme Court for decades to come.
“This is just one more reason why the American people are lucky to have a Judiciary Committee Chairman like Senator Grassley in their corner.
“Senator Grassley is passionate about giving the people of this country a voice in such a critical conversation. He’s stood strong for the people throughout this debate. And he’s proven himself a dedicated legislator throughout this new majority, with yet another Judiciary Committee-passed bill clearing the Senate on a bipartisan basis this week.
“He understands that we don’t need to get stuck fighting about one issue, he understands that we can let the American people make their voices heard on this matter while the Senate continues doing its work on important legislation.”
Related Issues: Supreme Court, Second Amendment, First Amendment
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