Sen. McConnell and other Republicans seem unconcerned with the fallout of their sheer hypocrisy, because there doesn't seem to be any. The latest polls in Kentucky show Mr McConnell clearly in the lead and primed for another six years in the Senate.
The Senate is a funny animal, since California has millions of people and only two senators while the entire midwest has the same population and well over 40 senators. The Senate does not represent the people. It was designed expressly not to. And the President did not win the popular vote. He lost it by 3 million votes. So the next choice for Supreme Court justice will be made largely without any say from the people.
But yes, the sheer hypocrisy. Sen. McConnell told Pres. Obama it was the Senate's prerogative to take up or ignore any nominations they saw fit. Now, as if nothing has happened, he -- and the President -- are telling us it's their sacred constitutional duty to act quickly in order that the seat not be vacant any longer than strictly necessary. It's as if they think we can't see them just making all this up as they go.
Anyway, that's for the various other politics threads we have going here. If anyone would like to read a very good example of the late Mrs Justice Ginsburg's reasoning and advocacy, I recommend her dissenting opinion in Ledbetter v. Goodyear. Ms. Ledbetter had been chronically paid less than her mail counterparts at Goodyear for substantially the same work. Upon discovering this, she filed suit alleging sex discrimination. The trial court handed down a verdict in her favor. The appeals court reversed on procedural grounds, ruling that because the alleged discriminatory acts began years prior, Ledbetter was time-barred from filing a claim. (The statute requires a claim to be filed within 180 days of the alleged discriminatory act.). The Supreme Court majority concurred with the appeals court. Her dissent speaks to substantive law, while the majority opinion generally relies on technical maneuvering.
