In 2008, Mitch McConnell railed against election-year judicial appointment delays, John Oliver notes

John Oliver looks at the Thurmond Rule
(Image credit: Last Week Tonight)

The fight over whether President Obama should appoint the Supreme Court justice who replaces the late conservative stalwart Antonin Scalia, thus changing the ideological balance of the court, is pretty nakedly partisan. In 2006, Obama, then a senator, tried to filibuster the appointment of Samuel Alito, nominated by George W. Bush — Obama called that a mistake earlier this week. Now Obama points out that it is right there in the Constitution that he "shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint.... judges of the Supreme Court."

On the other side, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell immediately ruled out Obama appointing Scalia's replacement, and after some defections, fellow Republican senators and most presidential candidates are falling in line behind him. When Republicans were in the Senate minority and a Republican president was trying to appoint federal judges with lifetime appointments, however, McConnell and his colleagues were singing a very different tune.

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If you want a clean look at what McConnell said when the shoe was on the other foot — "This seeming obsession with a rule that doesn't exist is just an excuse for our colleagues to run out the clock on qualified nominees who are waiting to fill badly needed vacancies," for example — you can watch the broader speech at C-SPAN below. In it, he does make one pretty indisputable point: "No party is without blame in the confirmation process." Peter Weber

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.