It’s The People’s Seat

MYTH: ‘Republicans Stole the Supreme Court’

RACHEL MADDOW: “Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon says they stole a Supreme Court seat.” SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): “That`s a fair statement.” … MADDOW: “…it is a fair statement that that was basically a stolen seat…” (MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show,” 1/3/17)

SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D-OR): “We really have to pay attention to the Supreme Court seat. The seat that is sitting empty is being stolen. It's being stolen from the Obama administration and the construct of our constitution, and it's being delivered to an administration that has no right to fill it… We need to have America be informed on it, that's why I want to raise it on - in your program, and to say that there's no legitimacy to Supreme Court justice in a seat that's been stolen from one administration and handed to another. … it will be illegitimate but it won't be DOA unless the American people understand this is the theft of the court and what it is, is a theft…” (MSNBC, 11/10/16)

• MERKLEY: “I will tell you one of the things I'm very concerned about is the debate over the Supreme Court seat. The appointment of this seat rightly belongs in the hands of President Obama. What the majority in the Senate has done is to basically steal that from one presidency and try to deliver it to another, which is going to greatly and profoundly affect the legitimacy of the Supreme Court.” (CNN, 11/11/16)

SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D-OH): “They’ve been rewarded for stealing a Supreme Court justice.” (“Democrats To Give Trump Cabinet Picks The Garland Treatment,” Politico, 12/5/16)

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL: “The Stolen Supreme Court Seat … No matter how it plays out, Americans must remember one thing above all: The person who gets confirmed will sit in a stolen seat. It was stolen from Barack Obama, a twice-elected president who fulfilled his constitutional duty more than nine months ago by nominating Merrick Garland, a highly qualified and widely respected federal appellate judge. It was stolen by top Senate Republicans…” (“The Stolen Supreme Court Seat,” The New York Times, 12/24/16)

DAHLIA LITHWICK, Slate: “Republicans Stole the Supreme Court.” (“Republicans Stole The Supreme Court,” Slate, 11/14/16)

• “The current Supreme Court vacancy is not Trump’s to fill. This was President Obama’s vacancy and President Obama’s nomination. Please don’t tacitly give up on it because it was stolen by unprecedented obstruction and contempt.” (“Republicans Stole The Supreme Court,” Slate, 11/14/16)

DAVID COHEN, Rolling Stone: “Grand Theft Judiciary: How Republicans Stole the Supreme Court. The Republicans just pulled off one of the greatest heists in American political history – they stole a Supreme Court justice.” (“Grand Theft Judiciary: How Republicans Stole The Supreme Court,” Rolling Stone, 11/14/16)

“‘This is a Supreme Court seat that was stolen from the previous president,’ said Brad Woodhouse, a Democratic operative and veteran of past Supreme Court battles.” (“A Supreme Court Pick Is Promised. A Political Brawl Is Certain.,” The New York Times, 1/24/2017)

FACT: Republicans Were Following The Biden & Schumer Standards

THE BIDEN STANDARD: ‘Action On A Supreme Court Nomination Must Be Put Off Until After The Election Campaign Is Over’

SEN. JOE BIDEN (D-DE), Then-Judiciary Committee Chairman: “…it is my view that if a Supreme Court Justice resigns tomorrow, or within the next several weeks, or resigns at the end of the summer, President Bush should consider following the practice of a majority of his predecessors and not - and not - name a nominee until after the November election is completed.” (Sen. Biden, Congressional Record, S.16316-7, 6/25/1992)

BIDEN: In Multiple Instances, ‘The President Himself Withheld Making A Nomination Until After The Election Was Held’

SEN. JOE BIDEN (D-DE): “Can our Supreme Court nomination and confirmation processes, so racked by discord and bitterness, be repaired in a Presidential election year? History teaches us that this is extremely unlikely. Some of our Nation's most bitter and heated confirmation fights have come in Presidential election years. The bruising confirmation fight over Roger Taney's nomination in 1836; the Senate's refusal to confirm four nominations by President Tyler in 1844; the single vote rejections of nominees Badger and Black by lameduck Presidents Fillmore and Buchanan, in the mid-19th century; and the narrow approvals of Justices Lamar and Fuller in 1888 are just some examples of these fights in the 19th century.” (Sen. Biden, Congressional Record, S.16316, 6/25/1992)

• BIDEN: “…in 1800, 1828, 1864, and 1956-the President himself withheld making a nomination until after the election was held. …it is time to consider whether this unbroken string of historical tradition should be broken. In my view, what history supports, common sense dictates in the case of 1992.” (Sen. Biden, Congressional Record, S.16316, 6/25/1992)

BIDEN: ‘The Senate Judiciary Committee Should Seriously Consider Not Scheduling Confirmation Hearings On The Nomination Until After The Political Campaign Season Is Over’

SEN. JOE BIDEN (D-DE): “The Senate, too, Mr. President, must consider how it would respond to a Supreme Court vacancy that would occur in the full throes of an election year. It is my view that if the President goes the way of Presidents Fillmore and Johnson and presses an election-year nomination, the Senate Judiciary Committee should seriously consider not scheduling confirmation hearings on the nomination until after the political campaign season is over.” (Sen. Biden, Congressional Record, S.16317, 6/25/1992)

• BIDEN: “I am sure, Mr. President, after having uttered these words some will criticize such a decision and say it was nothing more than an attempt to save the seat on the Court in the hopes that a Democrat will be permitted to fill it, but that would not be our intention, Mr. President, if that were the course to choose in the Senate to not consider holding hearings until after the election. Instead, it would be our pragmatic conclusion that once the political season is under way, and it is, action on a Supreme Court nomination must be put off until after the election campaign is over. That is what is fair to the nominee and is central to the process. Otherwise, it seems to me, Mr. President, we will be in deep trouble as an institution.” (Sen. Biden, Congressional Record, S.16317, 6/25/1992)

THE RUEMMLER STANDARD: She ‘Would Have Recommended That Senate Democrats Take Exactly The Same Course (No Hearings, No Vote)’

ED WHELAN: “In an ABA panel discussion yesterday in which I took part, Kathryn Ruemmler, who served as President Obama’s White House counsel from June 2011 to June 2014 candidly acknowledged that if the political roles had been reversed—if, that is, a Supreme Court vacancy had arisen in an election year in which the president was a Republican and the Senate was controlled by Democrats—she would have recommended that Senate Democrats take exactly the same course (no hearings, no vote) that Senate Republicans took on the Scalia vacancy.” (NRO’s Bench Memos, 11/18/16)

JOSH BLACKMAN: “Ruemmler: I would have advised same McConnell strategy on denying hearing if tables were turned.” (@JoshMBlackman, Twitter, 11/17/16)

THE SCHUMER STANDARD: ‘I Will Do Everything In My Power To Prevent’ More Bush Nominees From Joining The Supreme Court

SCHUMER: ‘I Will Recommend To My Colleagues That We Should Not Confirm A Supreme Court Nominee’

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), JULY 2007: “[F]or the rest of this President’s term and if there is another Republican elected with the same selection criteria let me say this: We should reverse the presumption of confirmation.  The Supreme Court is dangerously out of balance.  We cannot afford to see Justice Stevens replaced by another Roberts; or Justice Ginsburg by another Alito. Given the track record of this President and the experience of obfuscation at the hearings, with respect to the Supreme Court, at least:  I will recommend to my colleagues that we should not confirm a Supreme Court nominee EXCEPT in extraordinary circumstances.” (Sen. Schumer, Speech To The American Constitution Society, 7/27/2007; Video Here)