WASHINGTON (AP) – Republicans in favor of putting off consideration of a Supreme Court nominee during an election year have focused on an unexpected ally: Joe Biden, circa 1992.
As Senate Judiciary Committee chairman more than two decades ago, the vice president argued that President George H.W. Bush should wait until after the November election to name a nominee – echoing the case Republicans now make against President Barack Obama’s plan to try to fill the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat.
Republicans on Monday gleefully circulated grainy video of Biden laying out his thoughts on the Senate floor. In the remarks, Biden said that a temporarily depleted court was small price to pay for avoiding a “bitter fight” that would assuredly damage the nominee, the Senate and the court, “no matter how good a person is nominated by the president.”
Looking past the election, Biden urged Bush, if he were re-elected, to “consult and cooperate” with the Senate and “moderate” his selections.
Biden’s plan was hypothetical, coming amid speculation that Justice Harry Blackmun was considering retiring in the coming weeks. And in a statement late Monday, he said any notion that he opposed filling Supreme Court vacancies in an election year “is not an accurate description of my views on the subject.”