Ted Cruz’s Supreme Court remark draws White House criticism

White House press secretary Josh Earnest, asked about Cruz’s comments, said it “certainly raises questions about the credibility and integrity of Republicans” who have said for months that the next president should fill the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat. John McCain (R-Ariz.) accidentally said what he was thinking about Senate Republicans’ tactics regarding the Supreme Court.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, addressed the court vacancy at a Wednesday campaign event for Colorado Republican Senate candidate Darryl Glenn.

In other words, under the vision Cruz hinted at yesterday, the Supreme Court may continue with eight justices – or perhaps even fewer – until 2021, at a minimum, simply because Republicans say so.

The Senate Republican blockade of Garland’s nomination has been driven in part by outside pressure groups that spent big in the effort to prevent President Obama from naming a third justice to the high court. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., a vulnerable Senate GOP incumbent.

“Because they can not do what they need to do”, Reid said.

The original argument from Republicans was that they would block President Obama’s Supreme Court appointment until voters had a chance to weigh in via the November 8 election. Americans should not accept a Senate that has done nearly nothing to address the vacancy crisis in courts throughout our country. There’s a difference between what might be constitutional and what you could do politically and what you should do.

Obama’s top spokesman accused some Republican senators with planning to “throw sand in the gears” purely because “they think it advances their own personal political interests” and due to a “selfish desire” to improve their standings with conservatives.

“If these guys think they’re going to stonewall the filling of that vacancy or other vacancies, then a Democratic Senate majority will say, ‘We’re not going to let you thwart the law.’ And so we will change the Senate rules to uphold the law that the court will be nine members”. In March, Cruz’ campaign released a statement that “I proudly stand with my Republican colleagues in our shared belief – our advice and consent – that we should not vote on any nominee until the next president is sworn into office”. If a liberal justice replaces Scalia, the Supreme Court would have a liberal majority for the first time since the 1970s. Roosevelt was hopeful that his “court-packing” plan would lead to a more compliant Supreme Court, which had rejected some of his programs, such as the case when they had declared, 9-0, that the National Recovery Act was unconstitutional in the famous Schecter v.

Outgoing Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid used Cruz’s comments in a fundraising email Wednesday night. The size of the Court is set by statute, not by the Constitution.

We do, however, hold out some hope for a little post-election clarity, and that the Senate will hold hearings on and confirm a judge who clearly is qualified, Merrick Garland.