Mitch McConnell’s Gamble Pays Off
The 2016 election became one of the most critical elections in the United States’ history. It wasn’t about the potential of having the first female president in Hillary Clinton, or all of the hacks that led up to the election. There is one story that didn’t get as much coverage and could have been a reason that voters voted the way that they did.
There are potentially a few Supreme Court positions that the next President of the United States is going to have to fill. There is already one vacancy available with the death of Antonin Scalia and President Obama has tried in vain to fill that vacancy before he left office with moderate nominee Merrick Garland.
However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the GOP has stalled any attempts to get Garland on the hill for the better part of the year. McConnell raised the stakes of this election because of this as the president now has the ability to shape the future of the Supreme Court. Of course, he was trying to protect what little the GOP held in what many Republicans felt was going to be a “lame duck” season.
“We’ve already made it very clear that a nomination for the Supreme Court by this president will not be filled this year,” McConnell said back in September to CNN.
While many thought Mitch McConnell and the GOP should have nominated Garland, before Hillary Clinton took office—now it’s clear how well that paid off. The Republicans are looking to shape the Supreme Court and McConnell’s stalling tactics, which was a last ditch effort, has given them that chance.
President-elect Donald Trump has already released a list of nominees that have received near universal praise. Which means that the Court may revisit some critical decisions similar to Roe vs. Wade and other social issues.
Which brings up the point that the Supreme Court could end up being a nightmare for liberals. With Trump poised to potentially pick three judges, depending on a wide variety of factors, America could see one of the most conservative Supreme Courts in its history. Democrats may have to use the filibuster and other means to halt potential ultra-conservative nominees. But that may not last forever, considering the Democrats lost their chance to take a majority in the Senate with this last election.
But all of this boils down to Mitch McConnell’s political hail mary which has given the GOP the opportunity to shape two out of three branches of the American government.
