Now that Michael Bennet has voted in lock step with his fellow Democrat senators against a well-qualified Supreme Court nominee, we think this raises a few serious questions about the future of the judiciary, and they hyper-politicization that Bennet has injected into the process.  Keep in mind that last year Bennet also voted against now-Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, a Coloradan with impeccable qualifications.

Let’s turn back the clock to a different era for comparison.  In the summer of 1993 Bill Clinton nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court of the United States to replace the retiring Byron White.  There was no question of Ginsburg’s ultra-leftist approach to politics and jurisprudence at the time, yet she was conformed by the U.S. Senate in a 96 – 3 vote.  Even Sonya Sotomayor, nominated by President Obama in the first year of his highly divisive administration, flew through the senate with a 68 – 31 vote.

The bitter partisan example that Bennet sets today is a far cry from what was on display just a few short years ago, but his behavior begs the question: should court nominations be viewed through a strict political lens?  Is that what “advise and consent” means, as written in the Constitution?  According to the Bennet Standard, the answer is apparently yes.

And, then, comes the question of appropriate vetting of nominees.  By what standard does Bennet feel we should be using?  Does Bennet believe that is was more likely than not that Justice Kavanaugh sexually assaulted all or some of his accusers?  There has even been open talk by Democrats of stopping all Trump judicial nominations for the final two years if his first term if they take control of the Senate.

These issues cut both ways, and the example that Bennet is setting will certainly come back to bite Democrats at some point.  It will be interesting to see if he changes his tune.  Unfortunately for the Democrats, chances are Republicans won’t forget.  We’re playing under a new set of rules, and you can thank Bennet and his class of professional politicos for that new, lower standard.