To the Editor:
Re “Senate Republicans Dig In Over Naming Next Justice” (front page, Feb. 15):
Senator Ted Cruz and Republicans who support him in a call for a delay in appointing a Supreme Court justice to replace Antonin Scalia insist on loyalty to the letter of the law as written in the Constitution—until it doesn’t suit them to do so.
Under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution, the president has the power to nominate, and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint a Supreme Court justice. It was President George W. Bush’s privilege to propose John G. Roberts Jr. and Samuel A. Alito Jr. for appointment to the highest court, and now it is President Obama’s right to put forward someone of his choice.
Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate majority leader, says the American people are entitled to be part of this choice. They have been. They elected President Obama—twice.
I am a Republican and would love for my party to win every round in the boxing match that is today’s politics, but I have no wish to win by cheating. To try to delay the process until after the election may be politics as usual, but it is still a shabby move. Congressional Republicans should focus on the right they do have, and that is to put the nominee through his or her paces during the approval process.
In anticipation of Democrats’ automatically crying foul over the vigor of their questioning, I remind them of the ruthless grilling that Judge Alito endured at the hands of Senator Charles E. Schumer in 2006.
MARGARET McGIRR
Greenwich, Conn.
