By D. Keith French
Vice chairperson
Butler County Democratic Central Committee
In February of 2016, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died. The next month President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to fill the vacancy. Not wanting to see a conservative member of the court replaced with a more liberal member, the Senate Republican Majority invented a "new rule" that "a President cannot be allowed to fill a Supreme Court vacancy in the last year of his term." This new rule was invented even though the procedure for filling Supreme Court vacancies is thoroughly enumerated in our Constitution, a document the Republicans claim to be sacred. As a result, the Senate Republican majority took no action on the nomination, an unprecedented move.
Now that another vacancy has arisen and President Trump has nominated Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, I think it's time for another "new rule" such as "a President under investigation by a special counsel cannot fill an empty seat." Or how about "a President cannot fill a seat only months before an election that could change control of the Senate." There are fundamental principles of fairness at stake with Kavanaugh's nomination. Those in this country who feel the Scalia seat was "stolen" by a "new rule" have every right to demand their own "new rule" that Kavanaugh should NOT be confirmed until the American people have had their say in November.