22 September 2020
The Hon. Mitt Romney
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator Romney:
I am writing with a plea, holding onto you as a last hope.
You have announced today that you will support President Trump’s appointment of an Associate Justice to fill the seat (though not the very large shoes) of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and I’m begging you to reconsider.
While I appreciate your reasoning — that presidents and senators are elected to govern their entire terms, and there is no arbitrary cut-off — I find the circumstances to be overwhelmingly against the rule of reason just now, in at least two ways:
First, the role of rules during this administration, and in fact, during the entire reign of Mitch McConnell as Majority Leader, has been pockmarked by convenience. Sen. McConnell is disingenuously pointing to fair-play, despite his constant disregard for such fair play when it has suited his purposes.
Under normal circumstances, I also would assert that elected officials should govern their entire terms. But McConnell broke that rule when he refused to allow a vote on Merrick Garland, nominated early in President Obama’s final year, months, not weeks, before an election. His justification — that the White House and Senate were of opposite parties — is a smokescreen, a red herring; he, in fact, devoted his energies throughout two terms to blocking any measure President Obama put forth, regardless of its relationship to the common good. Fair play is not fair play when only one side has to abide by the rules. I believe you already know this; I believe your sense of decency is offended by McConnell’s machinations.
If “fair” is our standard, if we were to have adhered to established norms, then neither Gorsuch nor Kavanaugh would have been seated as they were to the highest bench: Gorsuch because the seat would have been filled by Garland; and Kavanaugh because of the credible accusations of sexual assault and because of his expressed hostility to both Congress and the Democratic Party — clear violations of the expectation that justices retain some veneer of civility and neutrality. (Though it certainly would have been fair for Gorsuch to have been later nominated to fill Justice Kennedy’s seat.)
Second, your vote to convict the president and remove him from office testifies to your belief that he is unfit for office. I agree. The damage this administration has done will be long in undoing, assuming our democracy survives at all. Allowing Mr. Trump to fill a third seat on the Court will almost certainly work to ensure his second term. Trump’s constant blustering about the “rigged election” and (non-existent) voter fraud among Democrats has contributed to a poisonous election season in which it appears possible, perhaps likely, that the final determination will be made by SCOTUS. In that event, it is hard to imagine that his packed court will do other than to affirm his election. I don’t believe you want this, having already voted to remove him once.
I have long regarded you as a thoughtful and reasonable leader, though at times pulled into right-wing politics by forces you likely despised, toward stances for which you have shown distaste. Your leadership as governor of Massachusetts made me think you care about the common good, care about people having what they need for a dignified life. Perhaps that is a product of your faith; I know it is core to mine. While we would likely disagree on various issues of “moral” decision-making, I have trusted that we share a belief that no one should be hungry, unhoused, bankrupted by health care, unjustly imprisoned or lacking in bodily autonomy.
McConnell is gaslighting America. He wants us all to believe that it is the Democrats who are against fair play; you and I both know that is a lie.
To be clear, while I am a Biden voter, he has never been my first choice. He is simply too centrist for me. But perhaps he is the leader we need right now. I believe Biden will rebalance America and create a space for us to begin again to consider the larger questions of our democracy. And I believe you know that and believe it to be the way forward. But he will not be successful with a 6-3 court to undo his every move. He may not even be elected if such a court is called on to determine our election outcome. (To be honest, I’m not sure he can be successful if McConnell continues to lead the Senate; but I’m no longer a Kentucky voter, so I have very little say in that decision.)
Please, for the love of God, reconsider your intent to let this president appoint another justice. You may be the one person with power to hold it all together and let us live to see another day.
Thank you. I pray for you, for your deliberations, for your leadership.