Citizens United, Voting Rights Act... Our Democracy can be ours again!!
But the president has to act now.
I know this goes against the president's nature but this is no time to be squeamish.
The GOP has said that only GOP presidents will be allowed to call the shots on the Supreme Court. F that.
Article II says the president picks. This president. When there is a vacancy, he picks---not whenever the hell the rightwingers control the Senate and Presidency.
Thing is, the GOP Senate adjourned until Feb. 22. They last met on Feb 11. It is the third day they have been in recess. They didn't know that Scalia was going to die. This is a bona-fide recess. The Senate is terrified that president Obama will do this. As one GOP staffer said, Obama could appoint Joe Biden now if he wanted.
This is the only window of time in which Obama has his chance to maneuver a recess appointment to the high court.
Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution states “Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.”
That means that so long as both the House and Senate haven’t jointly agreed to “adjourn” for a stretch longer than three days, then there appears to be no way the president could make a recess appointment.
But the House and Senate are not operating under those circumstances right now. Both bodies of have adjourned until later this month for the President’s Day recess.
The Senate, once back in session, will not allow their body to go into recess until the end of Obama’s term. Mitch McConnell will keep someone there to open sessions even if no one else is there. There will be nothing we can do.
The only time to act is now. RIGHT NOW!
The GOP wouldn’t hesitate to do this if the situation was reversed. Crap, they are spitting on the Constitution as we speak. A recess appointment is completely legal and completely warranted. It is also very justified, given that the Senate has vowed to abdicate their responsibility because they hate Obama.
If there is a Democratic president elected next year, but the GOP holds the Senate, we will not get a vote. They will hold out for years until they get a GOP president. For too long, Scalia acted as a dictator imposing his draconian views on the rest of us. It’s time Obama claimed Democracy back for us. America will be with him!