Senate's biggest hypocrite whines about judges pulling retirements
Outgoing Senate Republican leader and suspected turtle Mitch McConnell had the nerve to accuse two federal judges of playing politics after the judges reneged on their retirements following Donald Trump’s victory this year.
“They rolled the dice that a Democrat could replace them, and now that he won’t, they’re changing their plans to keep a Republican from doing it,” McConnell said Monday in a speech on the Senate floor.
He warned that the judges would face ethics complaints if they remain on the bench.
“If these circuit judges unretire because they don’t like who won the election, I can only assume they will face significant ethics complaints based on Canons 2 and 5 of the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges, followed by serial recusal demands from the Department of Justice. And they’ll have earned it,” McConnell said in a huff.
McConnell was referring to U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn of North Carolina and U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley of the Southern District of Ohio both announced they would remain on the bench in active service, preventing Trump from choosing their replacements. Already, Republicans were blocking President Joe Biden from choosing their replacements by utilizing the blue slip process, in which senators from the home state of the nominee can block their confirmation by objecting to their nomination.
It takes a lot of nerve for McConnell, of all people, to make this complaint.