The Republican Party’s contention, endorsed by U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, is that no U.S. Supreme Court justice proposed by the sitting president should have a hearing this year because it’s an election year.
They contend “the people” should have a voice in the selection of the “missing” justice with their choice of the next president. They contend the president has no right to propose a replacement for a justice, despite the effect on the operation and decision-making of the court, because it’s an election year.
If that’s what they really believe, then it follows that Ayotte and the remaining third of U.S. senators up for election in November, should have immediately gone home and stayed there until after the election.
If the sitting president, with nine months of his term remaining, can’t propose a Supreme Court justice, then the senators up for election in November must, by extension, abstain from voting or participating in any legislative action until “the people” have spoken in November.
But somehow Ayotte and her Republican buddies don’t seem to see the comparable logic.
DALE VINCENT
Concord