Washington Post column tonight, with video of Joe Biden from 1992
Joe Biden in 1992: No nominations to the Supreme Court in an election year
[video]
On the Senate floor on June 25, 1992, then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) urged President George H. W. Bush not to name a nominee to the Supreme Court until after the November election. (C-SPAN)
By Mike DeBonis February 22 at 8:01 PM
Senate Republicans determined to block President Obama’s promised Supreme Court nominee embraced an unlikely ally Monday: Vice President Biden.
More precisely, they embraced a fourth-term Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) who, while serving in 1992 as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, delivered a sprawling, 90-minute floor address that included a call for halting action on Supreme Court nominees in an election year.
Biden delivered his remarks in late June, as the court approached the end of its term — the traditional season for retirement announcements — and as President George H.W. Bush waged an uphill campaign for a second term amid an economic slowdown and sinking approval ratings.
Were there a vacancy, Biden argued, Bush should “not name a nominee until after the November election is completed,” and if he did, “the Senate Judiciary Committee should seriously consider not scheduling confirmation hearings on the nomination until after the political campaign season is over.”
—
Biden, as vice president, has called in recent days for the Senate to take up the nomination Obama promises to make to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who was found dead Feb. 13 in Texas.
“To leave the seat vacant at this critical moment in American history is a little bit like saying, ‘God forbid something happen to the president and the vice president, we’re not going to fill the presidency for another year and a half,’?” he told Minnesota Public Radio on Thursday.
Biden said Monday in a statement that the 1992 speech pertained to “a hypothetical vacancy” and that the excerpt Republicans highlighted was “not an accurate description of my views on the subject.”
“In the same statement critics are pointing to today, I urged the Senate and White House to work together to overcome partisan differences to ensure the Court functions as the Founding Fathers intended,” he said. “That remains my position today.” |
