When President Barack Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court in 2016, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) refused to consider him, blocking the nominee until after the year’s presidential election. He said then that “the American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice.” The tactic cost Garland his spot on the court. Ironically, in doing so, McConnell cited the so-called “Biden rule,” a reference to a 1992 speech in which Biden argued that President George H.W. Bush should delay the hypothetical confirmation of a Supreme Court justice, should an opening occur before that November’s election. But later in his Tuesday talk, McConnell hinted that he, too, misses the days when Democrats and Republicans got along better.

Source: Washington Post May 29, 2019 02:44 UTC