Rather than looking at the Constitution for guidance, Democrats are citing unwritten rules to gaslight the American people into thinking Trump would be crazy to fulfill his Constitutional obligation to nominate a Supreme Court justice during an election year.
Minutes after news broke on Friday that Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away, CSPAN tweeted video of Joe Biden in 1992 calling on then-President George Bush to wait until after the election to make a Supreme Court nomination. Of course, such a rule didn't stop President Obama from nominating Merrick Garland during an election year.
But at the time when Biden told President Bush to wait, the Democrats controlled the Senate and President Bush was a Republican. The Senate hasn't confirmed a nominee from an opposite-party president during an election year since the 1880s, and why would they? But things are different when the same party controls both the White House and the Senate, as Republicans do now. It's a difference that Democrats and the media are having a hard time wrapping their little heads around.
The only rules that matter when it comes to Supreme Court nominations are clearly spelled out in the Constitution, as Biden himself said in a 2016 speech.
"So now I hear all this talk about the Biden rule. It's frankly ridiculous. There is no Biden rule," Biden said. "It doesn't exist. There's only one rule I ever followed on the Judiciary Committee; that was the Constitution's clear rule of the advice and consent. Article Two of the Constitution clearly states, whenever there is a vacancy in one of the Court's created by the Constitution itself, the Supreme Court of the United States, the president shall -- not may -- the president shall appoint someone to fill the vacancy with the advice and consent of the United States Senate. And advice and consent includes consulting and voting!" Biden shouted.
Biden in 2016: “Article 2 of the Constitution clearly states whenever there is a vacancy in one of the courts created by the Constitution itself ... the president shall — not may, the president shall appoint someone to fill the vacancy with the advice and consent of the Senate.” pic.twitter.com/V5WmslJtjR
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 19, 2020
So that's settled. Trump and Biden agree. The president shall nominate a justice, as he said he would, and the Senate shall hold a confirmation vote, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already vowed.