Kelly Ayotte knows what to do and how to do it.
She pledged, when she first took office, to defend the Constitution, including Article 2, Section 2, Clause 2. That passage reads that the president shall “nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law.”
The case may appear to be open and shut for the Senate to participate in considering President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, but the key word in the passage is “shall.”
According to the Atlantic, “This language makes the Senate’s consent a prerequisite to presidential appointments, it does not place any duty on the Senate to act nor describe how it should proceed in its decision-making process.
“Instead, the Senate’s core role in appointments is as a check on the president, which it exercises by not giving consent – a choice it can make simply by not acting.”
Not acting – doing nothing. Ayotte seems to take pride in this aptitude of hers and takes no shame in highlighting it as one of her main qualifications in her quest for a second term.
We need a senator who can lead by example. Let’s elect Maggie Hassan.
PAUL BLACKFORD
Franklin