Saving the country & Saving SCOTUS - The debt to Mitch McConnell

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No other consideration drove conservatives to Donald Trump like the prospect of a U.S. Supreme Court dedicated to preserving the Constitution as it was written and honored for centuries. The Donald promised to appoint judges in the mold of the late Antonin Scalia to the seat vacated by Mr. Scalia’s death.

Mr. Trump can redeem that promise when he first takes office on Jan. 20 next year, thanks in good measure to Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate majority leader who announced on the death of Judge Scalia that the majority of the Senate would defer action on President Obama’s proposed replacement until after the November election, and rallied his colleagues to keep the pledge.

Mr. McConnell, who is sometimes scolded by conservatives as insufficiently resolute, withstood pressure from the Democrats and their media allies, particularly after the president nominated Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, to fill the Scalia vacancy. Liberal pressure groups turned up the heat on Republican senators facing tough re-election campaigns, demanding that Judge Garland be confirmed at once.

Certain Republican senators, who sometimes wilt and wobble under pressure, fretted that the pledge to block the Garland nomination might be unwise because Hillary Clinton looked like a winner and it might be better to confirm Judge Garland now because a prospective President Clinton wouldn’t nominate anyone better. Keeping senators in line is always a test for a majority leader; it’s a chore like herding cats. But Sen. McConnell stood firm.

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