I urge our senators to not confirm any nominee before the election. The implications of replacing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before this election are incalculable.
In 2016, Sen. Dan Sullivan withheld support for President Barack Obama’s choice to replace Justice Antonin Scalia. Indeed, in 2016, Judge Amy Barrett clearly articulated her belief in replacing like-minded Supreme Court justices when she said replacement of Justice Scalia with anyone but a “staunch conservative” would be inappropriate as it would “dramatically flip the balance of power” in the Supreme Court. Finally, Sen. Lisa Murkowski has said that she opposes “moving forward” with nomination of a replacement justice for Justice Ginsburg, but later said “I’m going to have to look at that,” if a nominee has been “fairly evaluated."
How do we reconcile the position of our two senators in 2016 to deny even a hearing for Judge Garland in order to give Alaskans a “voice in that direction through their vote”(Sen. Sullivan)? Where in constitutional norms is senatorial hypocrisy found? Perhaps in the spirit of originalists like Justice Scalia and Judge Barrett we can find the answers in the same documents that count enslaved people as three-fifths of one person? Why should the senators disregard Judge Barrett’s own explicit design to replace Justice Ginsburg with a philosophically similar Justice, even though it violates Judge Barrett’s “balance of power” rule? Does the senators' mandate to power and party supersede their oath to the Constitution and our democracy?
Consider how a Justice Barrett, a disciple of Justice Scalia, will treat your access to health care, your individual right to vote, your rights to breathe clean air and water (think Pebble Mine), yourvrights against corporate malfeasance (think Pebble Mine and Northern Dynasty), restriction ofvcorporate greed, or protection of your privacy by high technology companies. These issues that affect us every day will be heard and decided by the Supreme Court in the near future.
Seth Krauss, M.D.
Anchorage
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