In light of the implacable opposition exhibited by Republicans to any nominee to the Supreme Court offered by President Obama, I modestly suggest a strategy the Democrats could use to put an acceptable justice on the high court.
The plan has two parts. First, the president should nominate a currently sitting judge who is a liberal Democrat with impeccable judicial qualifications. The nominee, if such be available, should be a black, gay, young, and Protestant. An Episcopalian and a woman would be a plus.
Part 2: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders should each pledge that, should the president’s nominee not be approved by the Senate and should the position on the court sill be open when he or she takes office, President Clinton or President Sanders, if there be such, will nominate Barack Obama to fill Scalia’s seat.
My guess is that this plan has a better than even chance of getting President Obama¹s nominee approved.
Oh, and when the next vacancy occurs on the Supreme Court, Barack Obama should be the nominee of the Democratic president. But we needn’t announce that.
For another possible strategy for the Democrats, see “Schumer has to threaten the full nuclear option to move McConnell on Supreme Court nomination.”
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