Mitch McConnell’s Stance in Scalia Confirmation Fight Could Help and Hurt G.O.P.
WASHINGTON — Senator Mitch McConnell’s strategy to maintain the Republican majority has been clear: trying to prove that his party can govern. But by saying he will block a Supreme Court nominee for Scalia who has not even been named, Mr. McConnell is headed toward partisan warfare instead.
The death of Justice Antonin Scalia has energized a right flank that has been long suspicious of Mr. McConnell and forced him into a fight that is likely to derail his smooth-functioning Senate. The tactic could alienate moderate voters and imperil incumbent Republicans in swing states, but in the supercharged partisanship of a Supreme Court fight, he probably had no choice. By framing his decision as deferring to voters in the next election, people close to him say he has minimized the political risk.
“It was necessary,” said Josh Holmes, Mr. McConnell’s former chief of staff, who now works as a Republican consultant. “The suggestion that the American people should have a say here isn’t exactly risky ground to be treading.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia speaks at an event sponsored by the Federalist Society at the New York Athletic Club in New York October 13, 2014. REUTERS/Darren Ornitz . SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage.
“As for the politics,” he continued, “if anyone thinks the center of the electorate is clamoring for Obama to name another left-wing jurist they’re nuts. The liberal left will be as loud as they ever have been, but the reality is that the consternation will be confined to the activist left.”
Mr. McConnell’s other calculation is that if Democrats maintain the White House and take back the Senate, he will at least have denied President Obama a closing victory on the court. If Republicans take over, any heat he will take in the next year for the highly unusual move of blocking a nominee will have been worth it.
He has spent his leadership of the slender Republican majority balancing the demands of conservatives, who view Mr. Obama’s presidency as an eight-year constitutional crisis, and his obligations to vulnerable Republicans up for re-election this year. He has chosen the conservatives.
But events in the coming months could confound that decision. Mr. Obama’s nominee will put a face on what Democrats will call a clear case of obstruction, giving them someone to rally around. And a divided court must render decisions on abortion-clinic access, affirmative action at universities and Mr. Obama’s executive actions on immigration. Every deadlocked 4-to-4 decision will spotlight the Senate’s inaction, amplifying Democrats’ cries of irresponsibility but also highlighting the stakes for conservatives set against enabling a left-leaning court majority.
New York times, By Jennifer Steinhauer – February 14, 2016
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