Letters to the editor: Replacing Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Justice Ginsburg

I am chagrined that President Trump and Senator McConnell announced the day of Justice Ginsburg’s death that they would move forward with a rapid appointment. We should be honoring her memory and taking a moment to grieve. But no, the presidency and the Senate have become so partisan and so crass that we no longer bow our heads in prayer to the soul of a great leader. This seems extremely odd coming from the Republican party. Justice Ginsburg’s dying wish was to let the newly elected president select her replacement. This is what Republicans chose to do when Trump was elected. It seems a fair and honorable request to meet a dying icon’s last wish. I fear if the Senate moves ahead with a rapid replacement our country will shred down the middle. Great leaders have a strong moral compass. I hope in this moment in history we will find a few great leaders in the Senate who honor Justice Ginsburg’s dying wish rather than rallying the troops for one more hollow victory. I fear those leaders are not in Idaho.

Julia E. Robinson, Boise

Election year

Republican Senators’ comments BEFORE the 2016 election:

Mike Crapo: “The current Supreme Court vacancy should be filled by an individual nominated by the next president of the United States.” (2016)

Ted Cruz: “A lifetime appointment that could dramatically impact individual freedoms . . . is too important to get bogged down in politics. The American people shouldn’t be denied a voice.” (2016)

Cory Gardner: “The president who is elected in November should be the one who makes the decision.” (2016)

Ron Portman: “It is common for the Senate to stop acting on lifetime appointments during the last year of a presidential term; it’s been nearly 80 since any president immediately filled a vacancy that arose in a presidential election year.” (2016)

Mitch McConnell: “The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice. This vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”

Lindsey Graham (2018): “If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump’s term, and the primary process has started, we’ll wait to the next election.”

Soon, we’ll see if these (and other Republicans) are men of principle or partisan liars.

D’Wayne Hodgin, Moscow

Replacing Ginsburg

This country, mine, yours, ours, is deeply divided, becoming more divided. Do you see an end, does anybody?

Not two hours after Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died on Feb. 13, 2016, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had already thrown down a gauntlet: The Senate would not confirm a replacement for Scalia before a new president had taken office. McConnell sneeringly called the principle the “Biden rule,” referring to remarks in 1992 from then-Sen. Joe Biden, who urged the Senate president to delay a hypothetical confirmation until after the election if a vacancy did appear, following the contentious confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died on Feb. 13, 2016. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell referenced the “Biden Rule,” reserving Justice Scalia’s replacement for the next president (it was an election year).

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Sept. 18, 2020.

Why does the “Biden Rule,” reserving the Supreme Court selection for the next President of the United States, not apply?

This is an election year, Nov. 3, 2020.

I believe we all believe in being fair.

Kirk Keogh, Boise