June 28, 2018 02:27 PM UTC

Surprise! Gardner Flip Flops on SCOTUS Nomination

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• by: Colorado Pols

This is what Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) said on March 16, 2016 when President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court:

“We stand at a pivotal point in our nation’s history. The Obama Administration continues to use the judicial and regulatory systems to push through its legislative agenda, shifting the balance of power that our Founders established…Our next election is too soon and the stakes are too high; the American people deserve a role in this process as the next Supreme Court Justice will influence the direction of this country for years to come.”

Now, this is what Gardner said THIS MORNING on KOA radio in response to a question about approving a new Supreme Court nominee before the November 2018 election:

I think it’s absolutely critical for this court. This is an opportunity to have a full court going into the new session — the start of the session. There’s plenty of time to do this. And so I hope that we can have a process that gets back to what it used to look like in the Senate, where you have Republicans and Democrats working together to find somebody who’s right for the country.

You can probably guess where this is headed. In a follow-up question, KOA radio host Marty Lentz asked Gardner why this SCOTUS nomination should be quickly advanced when Gardner absolutely refused to allow Garland’s nomination to go forward two years ago:

I think if you look at that situation, a completely different situation than what we have now where, you know, according to the Biden rule and others. This is not a presidential election year. This is not months away from the American people determining a new president that could influence the direction of the court. We’re not even halfway through the president’s first first term, so I think we’re talking a totally different situation, there, and an opportunity for us to put somebody on the court like Neil Gorsuch. Neil Gorsuch as a great Coloradan and [I am] looking forward to somebody like him — or her — and go onto the court.

Of course Gardner says that this is a “completely different” situation, because…well…mostly because there is now a Republican in the White House. Gardner has the moral leadership of a turnip.