By Rick Manning
Senate Republicans are scheduled on Jan. 11 to consider the nomination of Luis Felipe Restrepo for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. But why?
Obama has already had more than 300 federal judges confirmed to the federal bench, about as many as his predecessor, George W. Bush.
Why are Senate Republicans giving any more judges to President Obama in his lame duck year when their goal should be to bottle up the remainder of the Obama agenda? Just to be nice?
Now with the funding bill passed into law and the power of the purse ceded, the confirmation process is perhaps the last remaining constitutional power that the Republicans in the Senate hold over this Administration, and they should be using it, not ceding it.
If President Obama wants a nominee confirmed, he should be forced to start following the law in other areas.
Instead, the Obama Administration continues to demand a one-way street, where the Senate majority ignores its election mandate and fills the judiciary with judges who share Obama’s radical anti-constitutional vision without any accommodation from Obama whatsoever.
The decision to confirm Luis Felipe Restrepo is less about his nomination, but instead is about Obama’s abuse of executive powers and his administration’s wholesale stonewalling of legitimate Congressional requests.
It is puzzling why the Senate Judiciary Committee continues to confirm Obama’s judicial appointments in light of the President’s continued abuse of power.
To get the new year off to the right start, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell should pull the Restrepo nomination from the Senate calendar using his leverage and the rightful power of the Senate to bring Obama to heel during the last year of his term in office.
While Obama would likely throw a child-like temper tantrum over not getting his way, but this time, he cannot threaten to shut down the government if the Majority Leader doesn’t give him what he wants.
This reset of the relationship needs to be made now, or else many Americans may come to the conclusion that there really is no reason to care whether Republicans continue to control the Senate in 2017.
Rick Manning is the President of Americans for Limited Government.
