COMMENTARY Political Process

Election-Year Supreme Court Nominations

Jul 16, 2018 1 min read

COMMENTARY BY

Thomas Jipping @TomJipping

Senior Legal Fellow, Center for Legal and Judicial Studies

Thomas Jipping is a Senior Legal Fellow for the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.

The Supreme Court Sean Pavone/Getty Images

Key Takeaways

Joe Biden (D., Del.) spoke on the Senate floor explaining why the upper chamber should not consider a Supreme Court nominee in that presidential election year.

In a non-presidential election year, Biden chaired the hearing for Supreme Court nominee Stephen Breyer.

In a non-presidential election year, Grassley will chair the hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

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In 1992, Judiciary Committee chairman Joe Biden (D., Del.) spoke on the Senate floor explaining why the upper chamber should not consider a Supreme Court nominee in that presidential election year. You can watch his remarks on this topic here.

Two years later, in a non-presidential election year, Biden chaired the hearing for Supreme Court nominee Stephen Breyer.

In 2016, Judiciary Committee chairman Charles Grassley (R., Iowa) spoke on the Senate floor explaining why the body would not consider a Supreme Court nominee in that presidential election year. You can read his speech here.

Two years later, in a non-presidential election year, Grassley will chair the hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

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This piece originally appeared in The National Review