Congressional stand-off freezes Supreme Court

In case you haven’t heard by now, it looks like the U.S. will be functioning (or not) without Supreme Court for the time being.

After Justice Antonin Scalia’s untimely death, the Obama administration was tasked with nominating his replacement, as per the Constitution, to be submitted for approval by the Senate judiciary committee in Congress.

But all 11 GOP members on that committee, led by Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, recently signed an agreement saying the Republicans would not hear from, meet, or otherwise communicate in any way with a nominee sent by President Obama, and will simply bide their time until the next presidential term starts in 2017.

Egregious, yes; but, shocking, no. As soon as the decision was announced, the rebuttal to criticism from across the aisle was that if the shoe were on the other foot, the Democrats would have done the same thing. And that seems to be the case, as a video of Joe Biden from 1992 was recently republished, where he argues for Congress’s right to deny the president’s nominees.

Which makes sense – clearly that check-and-balance right is in place so we don’t have dangerous fringe politicians thrust into such a lauded office: Someone needs to double-check, and be able to say “No.”

What doesn’t make sense is saying “No” before you’ve even met the person, or even know his or her name, for that matter.

Also, there is no limit to the number of Supreme Court justices on the panel specified in the constitution. If the majority Republican Congress thought Obama’s nominee tipped the scales so far to the left it wouldn’t work, why wouldn’t they just act to add more justices?

The answers are the same age-old tales you’ve heard, if you’ve ever tuned into American media: a lack of bipartisanship, a disconnect with the voters… You could probably name the rest yourself.

But the fact that this dysfunction is now routine is scary.

Americans have been fed up with the political system for a while, but maybe that’s just what should happen here. A good compromise leaves everyone angry, and the recent rumblings of Obama nominating a centrist Republican for the opening aren’t as crazy as they may seem.

While the Senate Republicans say they’re waiting for a GOP nominee to win the White House, it’s just as likely that a Democratic candidate could get in. And Obama seems to favor neither scenario, since this seems to be on his agenda for lasting changes he hopes to make before leaving office (along with closing Gitmo).

All we’re saying is, give peace a chance, especially when it’s least likely.