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By RAY LYNCH
Princeton, WV
The current caterwauling from both Republicans and Democrats regarding the vacant seat on the U.S. Supreme Court due to the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg makes this a magnificent moment for learning about politics. Let me say up front that what is going on in Washington and the media has absolutely nothing to do with principle and everything to do with politics and power — in my opinion.
I am no scholar, but I can read more than just Facebook memes and comments. Thus far, here is some of what I have learned by reading some of what I consider reputable sources.
In 1992, an election year, then chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Joe Biden said there was no need for President George Bush to send any Supreme Court nominations during an election year because his committee would not consider them. In the 2016 election year when President Obama sought to fill the empty seat vacated by the death of Antonin Scalia, VP Joe Biden reversed himself and said had Bush needed to nominate a justice he most certainly would have had committee hearings. Therefore, the Senate, Biden thought, should most certainly vote on President Obama’s nominee.
Now, in 2020, he again thinks the president should wait until after the election. Some in the media have called that a flip-flop-flip.  Hypocrisy? Nah, just politics.
In the 2016 election year, President Obama nominated Merrick Garland as a Supreme Court justice. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell said that the yet to be elected president should be able to make the nomination. In the current election year, McConnell says that the Senate will have a vote if the president presents a nominee before the election. Hypocrisy? Nah, just politics.
In 2016, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that she believed that the president should place a nominee before the Senate and that the nominee should be voted on, regardless of whether it was an election year. She also said that the president is president for four years, not three, indicating that Obama most certainly had the authority to name a nominee. She also noted that it is also the Senate’s purview whether or not to consent to that nominee. According to media reports, Ginsburg’s last request before dying was that the nominee should not be made or voted on until after “the new president is installed.” Hypocrisy? Nah, just politics.
(Used with permission from the Bluefield Daily Telegraph)