WASHINGTON — It only took one man’s death to give Congress an opening to spread its dysfunction to the rest of government. ADVERTISING WASHINGTON — It only took one man’s death to give Congress an opening to spread its dysfunction
WASHINGTON — It only took one man’s death to give Congress an opening to spread its dysfunction to the rest of government.
Republican opposition to letting President Barack Obama replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia quickly sparked a constitutional clash over the president’s right to fill Supreme Court vacancies. Democrats, who have their own history of boxing out Republicans over court nominees, are up in arms, but begrudgingly concede that Obama’s pick is unlikely to be confirmed.
So as both parties prepare for political brawling, the eight remaining justices could spend the next year hearing critical cases alongside an empty chair, unable to break a tie in the event of a 4-4 split.
The standoff raises a scenario that Washington long has dreaded: that bitter partisanship in Congress, mixed with obstructive tactics like the filibuster, would eventually jeopardize another branch’s basic ability to function.
“If Republicans do what they suggest, I think we’re headed not only for a constitutional crisis but also for big problems for the legislative process,” said Jim Manley, a former aide to Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada. “This is the natural reaction to the continued Senate breakdown we’ve seen for years.”
Supreme Court nominees have been rejected before. Yet Democrats accuse Republicans of taking obstructionism to a new level by insisting Obama not even name a nominee with 11 months left in his term — and refusing to hold a confirmation vote if he does. Though the Constitution is clear that the president nominates candidates, Republicans say the Founding Fathers never required the Senate to grant them a vote.
The White House hopes the GOP gambit will backfire.
“It’s a little bit like saying, God forbid something happen to the president and the vice president, ‘We’re not going to fill the presidency for another year and a half,’” said Vice President Joe Biden, who attended Scalia’s funeral Mass on Saturday.
Republicans are unimpressed by those appeals to the Constitution. After all, many of the leading cases now before the Supreme Court question Obama’s unilateral actions.
