The wild ride that is the year 2020 continues

A few months ago I quit saying a certain phrase (or variation thereof) which I had been conveying on a heavy rotation: "Dang 2020 can't get any more bizarre or surreal." As each month passed, I realized it could. 

Friday evening's news was just the latest in a series of loony occurrences. 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the enigmatic, longtime Supreme Court justice who attained near cult-like status among progressive circles, died Friday at the age of 87 from complications surrounding metastatic pancreatic cancer.

The late Supreme Court justice, who spent more than two decades on the bench in the highest court of the land, is survived by her two children, Jane Carol and James Steven Ginsburg.

“Our Nation has lost a jurist of historic stature," Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. said in a Friday evening statement. "We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her -- a tireless and resolute champion of justice.”

Ginsburg, who was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1993 by President Bill Clinton, was known for her soft-spoken demeanor that masked an analytical mind, a deep concern for the rights of every American and a commitment to upholding the Constitution.

I think back to early 2016 when Justice Antonin Scalia died and how that sent shockwaves through the political world. However, that was a full nine months before Election Day that year. Ginsburg's passing is a mere 45 days before this year's presidential election. 

While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declined to hold hearings for then President Obama's nominee to replace Scalia, he plans on going through such a process for President Trump's pick.

The Senate and the nation mourn the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the conclusion of her extraordinary American life.

My full statement: pic.twitter.com/NOwYLhDxIk

— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) September 19, 2020

If you channeled the collective rage of leftists upon McConnell issuing that statement, it would likely register on the Richter scale. You thought progs were unhinged during the Brett Kavanaugh SCOTUS confirmation hearings?!?! Nah, this is going to be a whole new level of derangement. 

So can the GOP majority in the U.S. Senate pull this off in such a short amount of time? For perspective, here is the time frame from nomination to confirmation for Ginsburg as well as each of the eight active justices. 

Days until election: 46
Days until senate inauguration: 107
Days until presidential inauguration: 124

Days between nomination and confirmation
Kavanaugh: 89
Gorsuch: 66
Kagan: 87
Sotomayor: 66
Alito: 82
Roberts: 62
Breyer: 73
Ginsburg: 50
Thomas: 99

— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) September 18, 2020

So if Trump loses reelection and the Senate GOP falls out of the majority, any confirmation would have to take place in a "lame duck" session. Yeah, there's gonna be some unrest like we haven't seen this year and we've seen more than enough. 

 

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A post shared by Erick Erickson (@ewerickson) on Sep 18, 2020 at 6:30pm PDT

If you're the praying kind, I hope you'll join me in crying out to our Lord for the most peaceful resolution to this overwhelmingly contentious time we're in. It's likely to become orders of magnitude more rancorous over the next 3-4 months.

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