John Oliver, host of HBO's "Last Week Tonight," kills it on this segment addressing the recent passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and the sudden brouhaha by Senate Republicans claiming SCOTUS justices simply aren't nominated in the fourth year of a president's term:
GOP presidential contender Ted Cruz established an arbitrary 80-year time frame during which he said no president ever got a hearing for a nominee in the last year of his term, but Oliver pointed out that Cruz was wrong.
Dead wrong. Five times wrong.
Five nominees came before the Senate during that period, with three making it onto the highest court in the land.
Oliver then turned his eye on the Judicial Crisis Network — a conservative advocacy group that stumps for hardline right-wing judicial appointments — for their ad claiming “We the people” should wait until a new president is sworn in and let that president choose.
Oliver pointed out that “We have a perfectly good president” right now who was re-elected three years ago and is entirely capable of making that decision.
Of course, the bottom line is President Obama was elected to a second FOUR year term, not three year term. And it is his responsibility to nominate a replacement for SCOTUS, and the Senate's job is to "advise and consent." Not block anything from happening.
It's a bad move by Republicans as it just cements the perception that they are the party of "no," and nothing else.
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