Florida Republican legislators stand in strong opposition to Marco Rubio’s belief that the next president should pick Justice Scalia’s replacement. In fact, the Florida GOP voted unanimously to give the head of the executive branch the right to “prospectively” fill vacancies at the end of his term — even if his party loses the office.
Remember Amendment 3? The Florida legislature passed SB 1188 during the 2014 session (an election year) in an attempt to give Governor Scott the right to pack the courts should he lose reelection. The constitutional amendment failed.
With 9 months until election day and 11 months left in President Obama’s term, Rubio has embraced the radical idea that since he really wishes Romney had won the 2012 election, the sitting President should not do his constitutional duty and appoint a replacement. Surely Florida Republicans who voted for SB 1188 — especially those who are currently surrogates for GOP presidential candidates — will remain intellectually consistent and oppose Rubio’s unprecedented act of disrespect.
Otherwise they risk proving themselves to be shameless hypocrites who place partisan grandstanding ahead of following the letter and spirit of the law.
