Tuesday, February 16, 2016

The Flaw in Rand Paul's "Conflict of Interest" Argument

The Republican struggle to find a reason that President Obama should not get to nominate Justice Scalia's replacement to the Supreme Court is, well... interesting.

ThinkProgress noted (on Monday) that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), hot on the heels of his failed presidential bid, broke new rhetorical ground on a conservative radio show in Kentucky.

"The president has said he has the power basically to create immigration law out of nothing," Paul said. "He says he has the power to basically cripple entire industries like coal without ever having been given that power by Congress. So see, we have a constitutional debate on whose powers is it, the president or Congress?  And I think the president sort of has a conflict of interest here in appointing somebody while we're trying to decide whether or not he's usurped power."...

...In Rand Paul's mind...President Obama "sort of has a conflict of interest" because the court is sometimes asked to adjudicate the limits of the executive branch's powers...

...Of course, the flaw in the senator's argument...is that the Supreme Court also considers the constitutionality of laws passed by Congress.  Indeed, it's one of the institution's principal functions.  By Rand Paul's reasoning, the confirmation responsibilities shouldn't rest in senator's hands at all, since they too "sort of have a conflict of interest."

eye'm thynkin':  This is what happens when you have a knee jerk reaction to something and open your mouth before taking the time to think your argument through to the end.

Read more at MSNBC

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