Why So Little About the Supreme Court at the DNC?

The Supreme Court and the judiciary were barely mentioned at the Democratic National Convention, says Ilya Shapiro in this op-ed in the WSJ. That non-event does seem to be a “curious incident,” to borrow Sherlock Holmes’s famous observation in The Adventure of Silver Blaze.

“Perhaps because Joe Biden knows that swing voters side with Republicans on the issue—as they did in 2016—and that it’s a weakness for him personally,” Shapiro writes. The Supreme Court confirmation process took a big step down in 1987 in the Bork hearings, under Sen. Biden’s chairmanship. A few years later we had the travesty of the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearing, with Mr. Biden still in the chair. Then most recently we witnessed the appalling spectacle of his running mate’s vicious mistreatment of Brett Kavanaugh.

Shapiro concludes, “It is no wonder the Biden campaign hasn’t been talking up the Supreme Court any more than Hillary Clinton did. The Democrats know that no matter how upset their base is about Mitch McConnell’s power plays, the issue of judges is a winner for Mr. Trump.”