Republicans: Win or Lose; You Choose

Have you ever tried to get out of a speeding ticket by arguing that everyone speeds, so speeding laws are now invalid?

How’d that work?

Yet, that’s exactly the argument that Harry Reid and the liberal media are trying to push on Senate Republicans.

The Senate rules are clear: Rule XXII still requires 60 votes to invoke cloture on any nomination or legislation, including attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch. Since Lynch won’t have 60 votes, her nomination can’t be confirmed if the Senate follows its own rules.

But here’s the rub: Harry Reid has repeatedly violated this rule, through his “nuclear option.” And many people erroneously believe that Reid’s repeated violation of the rules effectively repeals the rules.

Using this line of reasoning: Obama’s failure to implement ObamaCare effectively changes ObamaCare. Obama’s executive amnesty trumps immigration law. Obama’s illegal “executive action” gun control overrules any statute inconsistent with it.

All other things being equal, signing onto this narrative would be a horrible mistake.

But all other things aren’t equal: Loretta Lynch now has 50 votes, plus Biden, but does not have the 60 votes necessary to break an expected filibuster.

Thus, if the GOP follows the rules, and appeals any illegal ruling from the chair, it defeats Loretta Lynch and her commitment to implement illegal executive amnesty. If the GOP ignores the rules, it loses, and Obama does yet another victory dance around his lawless actions.

In order to force the GOP to embrace Reid’s unlawful precedent for the purpose of implementing Obama’s illegal actions, Senate Democrats (i.e., the party of Jim Crow) are now labeling Republicans as racists for not moving Lynch’s nomination.

Of course, the same Democrats could have confirmed Lynch in the “lame duck session,” had they not been so busy packing the courts — with all of the enthusiasm of kids cramming shoplifted candy down their pants.

But Republicans should understand this: If Lynch is confirmed, she is the Supreme Court’s “fifth-vote-in-waiting.” If they think opposing her is painful now, wait until the Supreme Court is at stake. The megaphone heaping calumny on the GOP will be a thousand times as loud.

I learned two useful skills in high school. The first, in ROTC, was how to clean and shoot a semi-automatic rifle. The second was how to play chess.

Chess-players will understand that this week’s failure to stop Lynch could put control of the Supreme Court out of our reach in the future. If Republicans wait until Lynch, Obama, and Clinton declare “checkmate,” there will be nothing anyone can do for them.

Michael Hammond is the Legislative Counsel for Gun Owners of America, a grassroots lobby representing more than one million gun owners.  This article first appeared on TownHall.com at: http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelhammond/2015/03/24/republicans-win-or-lose-you-choose-n1975480