Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, seems to have been in a strange frame of mind since President Trump nominated Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in late September. He should be happy that he wasn’t around in 1801, when John Adams, having already lost reelection after one term in office, named his ally John Marshall as chief justice. Not only that, but he did it so that a lame-duck Senate would confirm him. Adams then left town without notice under cover of darkness in what can be only described as a huff, so as to avoid his rival’s inauguration.

By Schumer’s standard, Adams acted illegally — and with great consequence. For the 34 years that he lived while in office, Marshall upheld in the era of Jefferson the ideas and ideals of John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, and even George Washington about the power and sway of the national government, its primacy over all the state governments, and the executive ‘energy’ so admired by Alexander Hamilton. Those ideas remained intact for use in the Civil War era, when they were so badly needed and the margin for error was small.