@MontereyJack,
MontereyJack wrote:Hypocrisy squared if the gop tries to ram one thru this close to election after they invented excuses to stymie obama's nomination to replace scalia.
Not hypocrisy at all. Merrick Garland was blocked as payback for all the W nominees that the Democrats blocked in 2007-08.
As both sides are even now, there is no reason to not confirm Mr. Trump's nominee as quickly as possible.
That said, if I were a Republican strategist (I'm not) I would advise the Senate to not confirm Mr. Trump's nominee until after the election.
If the Republicans still hold
either the White House or the Senate after the election, then the Republicans should rush through the confirmation of Mr. Trump's nominee in a lame duck session.
If the Democrats claim
both the White House and the Senate this November, then the Republicans should make a deal with the Democrats to let Mr. Biden pick RBG's replacement in exchange for an agreement that the Democrats will not expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court.
Otherwise, if the Democrats hold
both the White House and Senate (and presumably also the House), there would be no way to stop them from expanding the Supreme Court to 15 justices and letting Mr. Biden pick all six new justices.