Biden still outraged that Senate blocked Merrick Garland

In what appears to be a deep dredging of ancient history, President Joe Biden shared his irate frustration about the Senate not confirming the last nominee by President Barack Obama, but later confirming the last nominee by President Donald Trump, as The New York Post reported

The two cases had similarities, since in the case of Obama, he nominated Merrick Garland - who now serves as the Attorney General under the Biden administration - right before his term in office came to an end.

Trump also made his nomination right before the end of his time in office. The major difference being that in the case of Obama, the opossing party to his held the majority in the Senate, while Trump was the head of the Senate controlling party when he nominated Barrett.

The Build Up

It was a "blatant attack on nominating and confirming justices to the court itself," according to Biden, who expressed his anger on Monday on the fact that Senate Republicans had blocked the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.

While describing proposed Supreme Court reforms that would impose term limits of 18 years and mandate a new ethics code for justices, Biden expressed his dissatisfaction with the strategies that are supporting the court's trend toward the right.

These reforms are a bundle that is usually understood as a messaging drive rather than a serious legislative push.

Biden's Comments

“Y’all remember when Justice [Antonin] Scalia died in February of 2016 and the Republicans blocked our — the president’s nomination, President [Barack] Obama’s nomination to fill that vacancy for nearly a year by making up an entirely new standard that there be no confirmations of the court during an election year,” Biden said in a speech at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas.

“But then, when Justice [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg died in 2020, Republicans rushed through the President [Donald] Trump’s nominee at the very same time, votes were being cast in an election that Trump would lose. It’s outrageous!”

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who was the Senate majority leader at the time, was the driving force behind the Republican strategy in the Supreme Court confirmation battles.

In 2020, he maintained that his pursuit of Barrett's nomination was not insincere, as opposed to Garland's.

McConnell's Response

"The historically normal outcome when you have divided government" is to wait until after an election, according to McConnell.

In 2021, Garland was nominated by Biden to be the attorney general. Criminal probes involving Biden and his family, as well as prosecutions against Trump, are examples of the political prejudice that Republicans routinely accuse him of.