Friday, while discussing meeting with President Barack Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said the Republicans made up the Biden rule.
Reid said, “They cannot succeed in the position they’ve taken. It totally against the American people. Doesn’t matter how much money the Koch brothers spend. We’re going to continue with our message, all we want them to do is their jobs.”
He added, “There is no Biden rule. That is something they made up. Joe Biden during his entire tenure as Chairman of the Judiciary committee, he processed all Supreme Court nominations.”
The Biden rules refers to a speech then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) gave on the floor of the U.S. Senate on June 25, 1992.
Biden said, “It is my view that if a Supreme Court Justice resigns tomorrow, or within the next several weeks, or resigns at the end of the summer, President Bush should consider following the practice of a majority of his predecessors and not — and not — name a nominee until after the November election is completed.”
“The Senate, too, Mr. President, must consider how it would respond to a Supreme Court vacancy that would occur in the full throes of an election year,” he continued. “It is my view that if the President goes the way of Presidents Fillmore and Johnson and presses an election-year nomination, the Senate Judiciary Committee should seriously consider not scheduling confirmation hearings on the nomination until after the political campaign season is over.”
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