Darrell talks about the nomination of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s successor. Should there be a nomination prior to the election, and if so, who should be nominated? Transcription / Notes: WHO SHOULD REPLACE RUTH BADER GINSBURG? Hello this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. Today is the 25th day of September in the year 2020, perhaps a year that will be pivotal in the history of the United States and the world as well. First, I want to tell you that the Castle family is doing fine during these very unusual and difficult times. The family daughter is adjusting well, and she seems more upbeat, more positive than she has in a while, and we are very grateful for that. Today, I am talking about questions that are ever before us if we watch or listen to the news at all these days. We all know that Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) recently died at the age of 87 after 27 years on the United States Supreme Court. RBG had reached iconic status both as a Court Justice and as a feminist leader and trend setter. The first question to consider is does the President have the authority to make a nomination in this an election year. The answer to that question is easy; yes of course he does. There is nothing in the Constitution that restricts his authority to fill appointments in an election year. He has constitutional authority not until the election, but until his successor is inaugurated. I suppose all the controversy about it is like one of those unwritten rules of baseball that everyone abides by, or the next batter gets hit by a pitch. The problem for the Democrats accepting this political fact revolves around Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland 11 months before the end of his second term. President Obama had no chance at reelection because it was his second term. It really didn’t matter though because Donald Trump’s chances of beating Hillary Clinton were zero as we all remember. Once she was inaugurated Mrs. Clinton could then reappoint Garland or anyone she wanted. The United States Senate must confirm the President’s nomination for it to be effective and at that time, as now, Republicans were the majority in the Senate. The rules of the Senate give the Senate majority leader the power to decide which items come to the Senate floor for a vote and in Garland’s case Mitch McConnell held up the vote for 11 months. Democrats now say that it would be unfair for him not to do the same thing in this case. The truth is that there is nothing fair about war, only who wins, this is a culture war and the winner will determine our destiny. Interestingly, RBG could have helped the Democrats out by resigning during President Obama’s administration so that he could nominate her successor. She chose to stick around and continue her service, even to the point of joining in hearings on video from her hospital bed. Her daughter Jane recently gave an interview to the New York Times and in that interview, she said that her mother was certain that Hillary would be elected and that she wanted the first woman president to appoint her successor. We now have only RBG’s unrecorded deathbed statement that we are supposed to believe for who she wanted as a successor. She supposedly said as her last wish that no one would be appointed to replace her until after the next inauguration. That is a rough paraphrase, but it is close to what she is reported to have said. We don’t know for sure that she really said it because there was no recording of the words in RBG’s voice. If she did say it so what. Supreme Court justices, no matter how revered, cannot control the judiciary after their term is finished. the words mean nothing except something that we might want to consider out of respect for her. This country was already at a very toxic level of politics and her death can do nothing but inflame and add to the toxicity. We are already in a culture war, a vicious, polarized struggle for the future, and RBG’s death just added a new candidate to the ballot and t...
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