In Congress, making up history is the self-gratification of old men

The grownups at Oxford University Press have weighed in on the ways elderly senators amuse themselves:

The history of Supreme Court nominations is clear. Until this past week there has never been a suggestion that a sitting president does not have the power to nominate someone for the Court and that the Senate does not have an obligation to consider that nomination. If past Senates had followed the proposals of Senators McConnell and Cruz, then significant justices, including the current Justice Anthony Kennedy, would never have been confirmed. The Supreme Court would have been shorthanded at many crucial moments in our history.

Should Senator Cruz become president, does he want to be told that for the last 25% of his term he will not have the right to fill a seat on the Supreme Court? Is he ready to make a campaign pledge, that if elected he will not nominate anyone to the Supreme Court in the last year of his term?

- See more at: http://blog.oup.com/2016/02/supreme-court-nominations-election/#sthash.AjtD71xs.dpuf