The White House Tuesday tried to explain away Vice President Joseph R. Biden’s comments in 1992 about blocking a Republican Supreme Court nominee in an election year, saying it was just one of many remarks he made about judicial confirmations.
“We can spend a lot of time throwing quotes back and forth,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest.
As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1992, Mr. Biden said President George H.W. Bush should “not name a nominee until after the November election is completed.” If he did, Mr. Biden said, “the Senate Judiciary Committee should seriously consider not scheduling confirmation hearings on the nomination until after the political campaign season is over.”
Republicans have seized on Mr. Biden’s comments as supporting their position that President Obama should not nominate a successor for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, and should wait instead for the next president to choose a candidate.
But Mr. Earnest said Mr. Biden also commented in 1992 that if Mr. Bush consulted with Congress about a Supreme Court nominee, the candidate might get serious consideration in the Senate. And he said Mr. Biden’s record on the committee was “hard to beat” for fairness.
In the same floor speech in 1992, Mr. Biden said: “If the president consults and cooperates with the Senate or moderates — moderates his selections absent consultation, then his nominees may enjoy my support, as did Justices [Anthony] Kennedy and [David] Souter.”
SEE ALSO: Joe Biden’s 1992 opposition to lame-duck Supreme Court pick could doom Obama nomination
Senate Democrats also were using the argument Tuesday that a person’s quotes from the past can always be used against him if he talks enough.
“You can have all the competing quotes you want,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, New York Democrat, said on the Senate floor Tuesday morning. “They amount to nothing.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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