Biden's attorney general pick Merrick Garland's nomination to Supreme Court was opposed in 2016, here's why
President-elect Joe Biden has nominated Merrick Garland for attorney general. The news came out the same day it became apparent that Democrats would win the control of the Senate as Raphael Warnock won one of the two Senate runoffs in Georgia, with Jon Ossoff leading David Perdue in the other race. The official confirmation is expected to be made on Thursday along with other senior officials of the Justice Department. Biden is expected to fill the other seats of his Cabinet before January 20 when he would be inaugurated.
The federal appeals court judge was previously nominated by former President Barack Obama in 2016 to the Supreme Court after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. However, according to the media reports then, before the announcement could be made by the administration and just hours after Scalia's death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that Obama should not be the one to nominate a judge and any decision made by him would be considered null and void. He also added that the one to make this decision would be the next president — to be elected later that year.
What is surprising is the fact that Garland was someone considered moderate and was appreciated by many Republicans including influential senators such as Orrin Hatch of Utah. At that time, McConnell had said, "Of course, the American people should have a say in the court's direction. It is a president's constitutional right to nominate a Supreme Court justice, and it is the Senate's constitutional right to act as a check on the president and withhold its consent." McConnell later claimed that preventing Obama from filling the Supreme Court vacancy was one of his proudest moments.
He said in a speech in Kentucky, "One of my proudest moments was when I looked Barack Obama in the eye and I said, 'Mr. President, you will not fill the Supreme Court vacancy'." There was no precedent set for such a decision before because no Democratic president had made an appointment while Republicans held the Senate, not since 1895. So the fact that the Democrats may have inched closer to gaining control of the Senate is good for Biden's administration.
The fact that Republicans held a majority in Senate led to 11 Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee signing a letter that stated that they would not consent to any nominee from Obama. So no proceedings were held on Garland's appointment. The vacancy at this point in time led to the eight Supreme Court judges deadlocking on many vital issues with four judges appointed by Democrats and four by Republicans. They had also refused to hear others. McConnell at this point had pointed to what he termed the 'Biden's Rule'. He referred to when Biden had served as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1992 and addressed how he had thought of urging President George H.W. Bush to withhold any nominees to the high court. At this point in time, no vacancy had occurred, however, this here helped support McConnell's stance.