US Senate race in Ohio will have sparks flying

If the primary election is any indication, Ohio’s Republican U.S. senator, Rob Portman, and his Democratic challenger, former Gov. Ted Strickland, will go at it hammer and tongs.

At the core of their political clash will be the refusal of the Republican-controlled Senate to hold hearings on President Barack Obama’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court.

In selecting appeals court Judge Merrick Garland to replace the late Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, the president was sending a clear message to the GOP: I intend to fulfill my constitutional duties until the last day of my term in office. And the appointment of federal judges is one of the important responsibilities of the president.

“It’s supposed to be above politics,” Obama said of the Supreme Court. “It has to be. And it should stay that way.”

Of special note is the fact that Garland won confirmation in 1997 to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit with backing from a majority of both parties, including seven current Republican senators.

Garland, 63, the chief judge of the D.C. Circuit, is a respected moderate jurist and former prosecutor. The president described him “a serious man and an exemplary judge.”

Republicans in the Senate, including Portman, who is seeking a second term this year, contend the vacancy on the high court should be filled by the next president after this year’s election.

During the primary election in which he faced inconsequential opposition, Portman offered this justification for inaction: “It’s a contentious partisan election, and it’s the best thing for the people to vote on this. During a presidential election year, it’s not the time to appoint a lifetime” justice seat.

Constitutional duty

But Strickland, who had served in the U.S. House of Representatives before becoming governor in 2007, countered that Portman and his Republican colleagues are shirking their constitutional duty to advise and consent on presidential judicial appointments. And, Strickland promised that Portman “is going to feel the heat from me on this issue throughout the campaign. It’s an issue that resonates. It speaks to the dysfunction of government.”

It’s also an issue that goes to the heart of the hyper partisan atmosphere that has existed in Washington from the time President Obama took office in January 2009.

There’s plenty of blame to go around, but one fact is undeniable: Obama won election and re-election by impressive margins, thus being able to claim a mandate from the voters to do his job.

So when Republicans argue that “the people” should have a say – through their votes in this year’s presidential election – on filling Supreme Court vacancies, this question looms large: What about “the people” who voted for Obama in his re-election bid in 2012? He captured 65,915,795 votes to 60,933,504 for Republican Mitt Romney.

In arguing that “the American people” this year must have a say, what are the Republicans in the Senate suggesting about the 65-plus million who voted for Obama in his bid for a second four-year term – a full term?

Judge Garland, who met on Capitol Hill with Democrats, spoke by phone to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. However, the conversation did not alter the GOP leader’s position that “the American people will have a voice.”

Other Republicans, however, seem to be having second thoughts about taking such an unwavering position.

According to the Associated Press, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley said he is amenable to a meeting with Garland. The wireservice also reported that five other Republican senators were open to such a session. Portman is reportedly one of the five.

But such meetings would be nothing more than political window dressing if the GOP majority continues to say “no.”

Democrats, including Strickland, have launched a campaign against the Republicans’ no-hearing, no-vote stance by branding them obstructionists.

The GOP’s refusal to even consider President Obama’s nomination of Judge Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court will be a major issue in the fall campaign.

The Portman-Strickland race, which pollsters say is a toss-up, will be watched closely.