Our Right On The Supreme Court | Eastern North Carolina Now

    The current Supreme Court vacancy is incredibly unique. It was created in February of an election year as Americans were casting ballots to elect the next president. It's a vacancy that will determine the direction of the court for decades.

    Given that rare set of circumstances, the Senate Republican majority made a promise to use the vacancy as an opportunity to let the American people have a voice. Voters - not a lame-duck president - should decide the composition of the highest court in the land.

    President Obama, Democratic leaders and left-leaning editorial boards aren't thrilled with giving the American people a say. They have gone so far as to claim, falsely, that the Senate has an obligation to fill the vacancy before the next president takes office.

    They should pick up a copy of the Constitution and read it. While the president is given the authority to nominate a potential justice, our Founding Fathers gave the Senate advise and consent authority. The Senate has several options on how to act - including withholding consideration of a nomination altogether.

    While Democrats express outrage over the Senate's decision to give the American people a voice, they ignore their own double standard.

    It was former Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Joe Biden who, in the midst of the 1992 presidential election, declared that the Senate should not hold hearings or votes if a Supreme Court seat opened up during the campaign.

    He predicted that "a process that is already in doubt in the minds of many will become distrusted by all."

    Biden's remarks may have been made decades ago, but they're entirely applicable to the current vacancy.

    When Americans vote in November, they not only will elect the next president and Congress. They also will determine the direction of the Supreme Court, an institution that has a dramatic impact on the lives of every single American.

    This is about principle, not the person whom President Obama has nominated to fill the vacancy.

    That is why the Senate will be keeping its promise to give the American people a voice.

• Contact: Daniel Keylin
•     daniel_keylin@tillis.senate.gov