In 2005, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) spoke on the Senate floor and insisted he and his colleagues had no constitutional duty to approve President George W. Bush’s Supreme Court nominee. Fast forward to 2016, he’s changing his tune. In a Washington Post article, Reid writes, “The Senate’s constitutional duty to give a fair and timely hearing and a floor vote to the president’s Supreme Court nominees has remained inviolable.”
“Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd felt compelled to point out the senator's hypocrisy on Sunday:
“I guess I’m confused. Which is it? What has changed from 2005, when you said there was nothing in the Constitution that said a vote, to 2016?”
Reid mumbled something about his career-long goal of ridding Congress of obstructionism.
Then Todd asked an even more direct and obvious question: “But I guess I’m going back to, what has changed other than the political party affiliation of the White House?”
It’s also worth noting that in this interview Reid insists “there is no Biden Rule.”
Leigh was on Capitol Hill this week and asked Reid about the Biden Rule, which refers to comments Vice President Joe Biden made during his time as a senator, claiming that no Supreme Court nominee should be approved in the final year of a presidential term. Here was their exchange, in which Reid clearly says he “wishes” the Republicans would follow it.
To quote Chuck Todd, “I guess I’m confused.”
Which is it, senator? Either the Senate Minority Leader doesn’t understand how the Senate works and he is making stuff up as he goes along, or he’s just saying what is politically expedient to get the president’s less-than-conservative nominee on the Supreme Court.