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Good morning, folks --
In a few hours, I’ll be heading over to Georgetown University’s Law Center, where I’m going to speak to you about why it’s so vitally important that Chief Judge Merrick Garland’s nomination gets the consideration our Constitution affords it.
You can watch that right here.
Now, between all the back-and forth you hear from all sides -- from pundits and from your own members of Congress -- I know it’s often hard to know what’s what in these political debates.
And that’s on all of us to fix. Our politics are clearly broken. But what we need to make sure right now is that Washington’s dysfunction doesn’t become a constitutional crisis.
At the end of the day, no matter your politics, this comes down to the simple but vital obligation that we all have to do our jobs.
Most Americans go to work every day understanding that they’ve got a job to do. There are days when you might not want to. But you don’t have the luxury of simply deciding not to work because it’s not convenient for you.
Neither should a United States Senator.
And right now, the United States Senate has a job to do. The Constitution has written a straightforward description of what that job calls for:
It says the President “shall” appoint someone to fill a Supreme Court vacancy, with the Senate’s “Advice and Consent.”
That includes consulting and voting. Voting in favor, or voting against – but voting.
Saying nothing, seeing nothing, reading nothing, and hearing nothing is not an option.
In my 36 years in the United States Senate, the Constitution was always our guidepost. Which meant that every single Supreme Court nominee got a hearing, a committee vote, and a floor vote. Period.
If our Senators don’t do that this time, it could be an entire year before the highest court in our nation is able to do its job the way the Constitution requires it to do.
Folks, this is important. And it affects every single one of us.
That’s what I’ll be talking about today. I hope you’ll listen in.
-Joe
Vice President Joe Biden
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