The McConnell Power Grab: Hypocrisy in Real Time
The theft of the Supreme Court didn’t happen overnight. It was a carefully orchestrated heist, and Mitch McConnell was the mastermind.
In February 2016, when Justice Antonin Scalia died, President Obama had nearly a year left in his term. Obama nominated Merrick Garland, a moderate judge who Republicans had previously praised. McConnell’s response? He invented a new rule: no Supreme Court confirmations in election years. “The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice,” McConnell declared, blocking even hearings for Garland.
Fast forward to September 2020. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died just 46 days before the presidential election. Did McConnell stick to his principled “election year” rule? Of course not. Within hours of Ginsburg’s death, he announced the Senate would vote on Trump’s nominee. Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed just eight days before the election.
The same senators who solemnly proclaimed in 2016 that “the people should decide” rushed through Barrett’s confirmation while millions of Americans were already voting. Senator Lindsey Graham, who had said in 2016, “I want you to use my words against me,” was suddenly singing a different tune when it served his political purposes.
This wasn’t governance. It was a power grab, pure and simple.