Dear United States Senators,
Hello, if you took time out of your very busy day to read... first I'd like to greet you. Hi, thank you for reading this, I'm sure you had plenty of other things to do today. Now... let's get down to the real reason you're here.
Do Your Job.
Okay, that probably wasn't a nice way to start out, I apologize. Let me explain what I mean by shouting that at you.
As you are well aware of by now, Justice Antonin Scalia has unfortunately passed away while still on The Supreme Court of the United States. Of course, this is a tragedy. While some of you may not agree with the morals of character of Mr. Scalia, we cannot deny that he was an intelligent man and very thoughtful. With Justice Scalia's passing, this now leaves an empty spot in the court justices of The Supreme Court of the United States. As of course you know, and hopefully the majority of other American citizens reading this, the Supreme Court has nine justices on it, now they only have eight with Scalia's absence. So... what now? The Supreme Court usually meets and starts telling what all of their decisions were in the summer... what is going to happen if you have cases which are four justices against four justices? There will be no ninth person to break any ties if everyone is split.
This Is The Time You Need To Do Your Job.
Now, I'm sure you have read, or at least skimmed, The United States Constitution. So you know as it states in Article II Section 2 Clause 2, "He (the president) shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he 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"
*
Let's review that again, shall we? In fact, let's break Article II Section 2 Clause 2 down.
* "He (meaning the president as stated in clause 1) shall have power, by the advice and consent of the Senate."
Here, ladies and gentleman, is why we are having such a big problem with Obama getting a nominee through. Because of the simple words "advice and consent of the Senate," we now have a Senate (who is majority Republican, the opposite party of President Obama) who has a "my way or the highway" mindset.
* "...to make treaties, provide two thirds of the Senators present concur;..."
This part of the clause is completely irrelevant to my argument. But, if you are a real U.S. Constitution Junkie, I didn't want to leave this part out for you.
* "...and he shall nominate, and by with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other offices of the United States."
Here is where things get good. Again, we have those tricky words "advice and consent of the senate" which again leads to the my way or the high way. But in this part, we where it exactly says "he shall nominate." The President shall nominate someone to The Supreme Court.
So Why Is This Such A Big Deal?
Well, for starters, The Senate is currently trying to go against The Constitution. Fight me on this all you want with "well, it says it has to be their consent" and all of that, but WHERE in The Constitution does it say "The President appoints Supreme Court Justices to fill vacancies UNLESS HE IS A DEMOCRAT GOING AGAINST A MAJORITY REPUBLICAN SENATE IN THE LAST YEAR OF HIS LAST TERM."
OH WAIT.... that's not a thing.
So, Senators of these great United States, I am asking you to do your job. I am asking you to at least consider Obama's current nominee, or anyone else he nominates. Let's say a democrat wins this November, do you really think Clinton or Sanders is going to nominate someone as moderate as President Obama has? (the answer is that is no.)
