Mitch McConnell has declared he will attempt to ram through a right-wing justice to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He is likely to succeed despite the grotesque and rank hypocrisy of denying Merrick Garland a seat because he was nominated in an election year. It is awful, but I think there is a good chance this action will prove to be a tactical political mistake of the highest order.
I wrote this essay during the Kavanaugh hearings where I noted how Democrats frequently buy into the trap of desiring comity and bipartisanship.
“Pundits and many Democrats frequently search for “reasonable” Republicans who they pray and hope will demonstrate some principles and courage. They are almost always disappointed. They’re like Charlie Brown and Lucy with the football. But it’s more than that. Because they have to work with Republicans in order to allow the government to function, and because Democrats, for the most part, abide by norms, there is a desperate desire to find the good in their colleagues who haven’t earned it. I call this Battered Democrat Syndrome.”
And like battered women and victims of bullies, it often becomes a case of “enough is enough” – they give up trying to work with and please the batterer and they fight back with a fury and anger that has been building up for years. After all the breaking of norms on judicial appointments the last four years, as well as Garland, and a whole range of other indignities - pushing through a replacement for Ginsburg, I believe, will be the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back.” The Democrats were furious before, but are now apoplectic.
Because of this, and assuming that the Democrats regain the Senate (hopefully with a few votes to spare), hold the House, and win the presidency – all of which seems probable at this point, I believe that the following will happen:
- The Senate will kill the filibuster making bipartisanship unnecessary.
- The Supreme Court will be expanded to 13 or 15 seats giving the progressives a strong majority.
- The lower federal courts will be expanded to ameliorate the appointments of all the right-wing hack judges during the last four years.
- Washington, D.C. will become a state giving the Democrats two more Senators.
- Puerto Rico will become a state giving the Democrats two more Senators.
- The Democrats will jam through their entire wish list of legislation in including Voting Rights, health care reform, labor reform, environmental reform, etc.
So, McConnell is taking a risk. He is gambling that the Democrats don’t have the balls to do what I am suggesting, or he is hoping that he hangs onto the Senate (which would make this scenario sadly moot). But that is a dangerous gamble in my opinion, from McConnell’s point of view. It is clear by what Democratic Senators are saying that if Biden gets to nominate Ginsburg’s replacement, they probably would not expand the court. The right-wing already controls the courts, but by getting greedy they are pushing the Democrats to play by the same rules - “might makes right” – McConnell is risking seeing the progressive Supreme Court of his nightmares become a reality.
I actually feel strongly that should the Democrats gain unified control of the government, they should do all of the above, whether or not Biden gets to nominate Ginsburg’s replacement. But I have a difficult time seeing how they won’t if McConnell persists in pushing through this nomination. They will have had enough of being “reasonable” because it will become abundantly evident that you can’t be reasonable with a bully and a batterer.