Speaking at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Sunday, Joe Biden implored Senate Republicans to ignore the Consitution when it comes to filling Supreme Court vacancies and listen to the Democrats instead.
"I'm not speaking to President Trump, who will do whatever he wants. I'm not speaking to Mitch McConnell, who will do what he wants and does," Biden said. "I'm speaking to those Republicans out there, Senate Republicans, who know deep down what is right for the country and consistent with the Constitution as I stand here in the Constitution Center."
"We can't keep rewriting history," Biden continued, "scrambling norms, ignoring our cherished system of checks and balances."
"We" being the operative word. There's a video of Biden in 2016 saying there is no such thing as the "Biden rule" and that the Constitution clearly calls on the Senate to vote on a president's Supreme Court nominee even during an election year.
Biden then told a couple of lies to persuade Republicans that abandoning their constitutional duty to help fill a Supreme Court vacancy was the "right" thing to do "deep down" inside.
"That includes this whole business of releasing a list of potential nominees that I would put forward," Biden continued. "They're now saying ... after Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away, they said, 'Biden should release his list.' It's no wonder the Trump campaign asked that I release the list only after she passed away. It's a game for them. It's a play to gin up emotions and anger."
Only the Trump campaign demanded that Biden release his list of Supreme Court nominees back when the president released his own list of nominees on September 9. And President Trump and his campaign have reiterated the demand several times since.
Biden wasn't done lying. He next said that the Supreme Court doesn't meet again before the November election. But the Court's next session starts on Oct. 5, about a full month before the presidential election is held, as even CNN's Daniel Dale pointed out.
As President Obama once said, elections have consequences. Republicans control the White House and the Senate. It would be political suicide for Republicans to betray the voters who elected them for exactly the reason of appointing freedom-loving judges to the federal judiciary.
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