GOP lawmaker never worked with Obama
As the incoming Trump administration attempts to ram its appointments to prominent positions through Congress without proper vetting and before all of the candidates have submitted necessary financial documentation, the Democrats are balking.
Their hesitancy to act with lightning speed is taking place much to the consternation of Congressional GOP members, who are crying foul. I have no sympathy for the complainers.
When Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia died unexpectedly a year ago, Republicans laid down the gauntlet to President Obama, pledging that they not only would consider no one that he appointed, but refusing even to grant Judge Garland a hearing, knowing that if they did so, they would not be able to demonstrate any valid reason for denying him a seat on the Court.
In a stunning act of hyper-partisanship and break from past practice, senators including John McCain of Arizona and Richard Burr of North Carolina, anticipating a Hillary Clinton victory in the presidential election, announced that they would stymie her from appointing any Supreme Court Justice within her four-year term.
Judge Garland had passed prior confirmation hearings with flying colors and enthusiastic endorsement from senators on both sides of the aisle, but now, the ideological balance of the Court was at stake, so his sterling credentials did not matter. What did matter was that he had been appointed by a president whom Republican senators sought to neutralize.
The Republicans told President Obama that he would be denied the opportunity to govern for the entire four years of his second term because there may be a new president who would be more favorable to them a year after the death of Justice Scalia. Now they expect cooperation from the Democrats as they seek to install Trump administration appointees before they have demonstrated themselves to have the minimum qualifications for their positions? What gall.
Oren Spiegler
Upper St. Clair