Joe Manchin, the highly controversial senator from West Virginia, said that he would not support filling another Supreme Court vacancy sho...
Joe Manchin, the highly controversial senator from West Virginia, said that he would not support filling another Supreme Court vacancy should another seat on the high court became open near a presidential election.
Per the popular political blog HotAir, Sen. Manchin refuses to be hypocritical and is dedicated to applying to a consistent standard for all nominees regardless of who nominated them.
“I’m not going to be hypocritical on that,” Manchin said, “If it would come a week or two weeks before [a presidential election] like it did with our last Supreme Court nominee, I think that’s the time it should go to the next election.”
Manchin is referring to the 2020 nomination of now Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett whom Manchin ultimately did not vote to confirm.
After the Senate voted to confirm Barrett to the Supreme Court, Manchin issued a statement on his website that said, “Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans chose a dangerous, partisan path to push through the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett eight days before this year’s November 3rd election further politicizing the highest court in the land.”
“I cannot support the nomination of Judge Barrett to the Supreme Court of the United States on the eve of a Presidential election,” the statement continued, “It is simple — this nomination should have waited until after the election.”
Previously, Manchin indicated that he is open to supporting whomever President Joe Biden nominates to replace Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court so long as that person has the requisite experience for the job.
In late January, Manchin told a local West Virginian radio show, “Whoever [Biden] puts up will have experience, and we’ll be able to judge them off of that, but as far as just the philosophical beliefs, no, that will not prohibit me from supporting somebody.”
The senator’s indifference to a nominee’s worldview is not unique to this instance.
In 2018, Manchin voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court despite public outcry and ruthless media scrutiny over his nomination.
While running in the 2020 Democratic primary race, then-candidate Biden committed to nominating the first black woman to the Supreme Court.
In March 2021, White House press secretary Jen Psaki reaffirmed the now-president’s decision by stating that Biden is “absolutely” committed to nominating an “African-American woman to the Supreme Court.”
Biden’s prioritization of race and gender in his nominee selection process has earned considerable scrutiny and condemnation from people across the political spectrum.
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