Sen. Schumer’s dissembling on judicial nominations

Given the track record of this President and the experience of obfuscation at the hearings, with respect to the Supreme Court, at least: I will recommend to my colleagues that we should not confirm a Supreme Court nominee EXCEPT in extraordinary circumstances.

donkeyhotey

Volokh Conspiracy in WaPo  "Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) is upset that some Senate Republicans have announced their intention to prevent President Obama from filling a Supreme Court vacancy before the next election. I agree with Schumer that this sort of thing is bad for the judiciary, and I have long argued that all judicial nominees should receive prompt consideration and an up-or-down vote. But that’s not Schumer’s view, and it never has been. He should not pretend otherwise.

"In 2007, 16 months before the election, Schumer delivered a speech at the American Constitution Society in which he declared that Senate Democrats should adopt a presumption against allowing President George W. Bush to fill another seat on the Supreme Court. (Here’s the video.)" . . .

From the text of his speech on the ACS website:

for the rest of this President’s term and if there is another Republican elected with the same selection criteria let me say this:

We should reverse the presumption of confirmation. The Supreme Court is dangerously out of balance. We cannot afford to see Justice Stevens replaced by another Roberts; or Justice Ginsburg by another Alito.