Debbie Stabenow Faces Supreme Court Filibuster Hypocrisy

Senate Democrats are threatening to filibuster a new Supreme Court nominee no matter who is named. According to Politico, Senate Democrats will attempt to block and any all Supreme Court nominations.This presents a significant problem for Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) because last year she forcefully stated, on numerous occasions, that the Supreme Court needed nine justices. In fact, she stated that it was “completely irresponsible” to leave the court with less:

“This is completely irresponsible. We have a court Right now …. Just today who came to a tied decision because they didn’t have a full complement on the court on a very important issue. That Could have been resolved.”

Speaking on the Senate floor, Stabenow compared a Supreme Court without nine justices to a baseball team without nine players:

“People in Michigan and all across the country work hard and do their jobs every day to put food on the table and support their families and build a brighter future for their children and they know they couldn’t refuse to do a really important part of their job for 99 days in a row and get away with it. Tonight, members of congress on both sides of the aisle will play in the annual congressional baseball game. We hope it won’t be raining. Baseball, a game that runs for nine innings, requires nine players on the field at a time for a complete team. I hope my Republican colleagues who are playing in the game realize we need nine is applicable both on the field and on the court.”

If Senator Stabenow filibusters a new Supreme Court nominee, thus preventing an up or down vote, she will have revealed that these comments from last year were not her principled beliefs but rather political posturing.