Democrats assert the exact opposite arguments of what they asserted when Barack Obama was president. When Obama was president, they said the high court absolutely needed nine justices. Now that Trump is president, unfilled Supreme Court seats are great again.
The latest and most blatant hypocrisy comes from Sen. Chris Coons. The Delaware Democrat sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee and he regularly tried to break the Republican blockade against Judge Merrick Garland in the fall of 2016.
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Today I spoke on Senate floor abt unprecedented refusal to consider #SCOTUS nominee Garland #WeNeedNine– watch here: https://t.co/XRH7a5MZHq
— Senator Chris Coons (@ChrisCoons) September 8, 2016
That Coons speech is tedious and long. The argument is simplest in the hashtag format. When it comes to confirmed Supreme Court justices, #WeNeedNine.
Now that the roles are reversed and a Republican is making the nomination, Coons has forgotten his old numerical argument. He doesn’t care who Trump nominates and he doesn’t care if the Supreme Court has to hear cases with just eight justices.
“I don’t think we should be rushing,” Coons told Kasie Hunt on MSNBC Monday morning. “I frankly don’t even think we should be considering this nominee.”
Coons isn’t alone. Democrats are already preparing to blockade whomever Trump nominates. That opposition is understandable — the progressive base demands nothing less than absolute, scorched earth obstruction.
Apparently the rules are different now that the roles are reversed. Asked how Democrats could demand confirmation of a ninth justice under Obama then turn around and obstruct a ninth justice under Trump, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., was incredulous on “Meet the Press” Sunday.
“Come on, Chuck,” Durbin said when asked why the rules were different now. “Get real.”
