[happythomist]

What's so surprising about that? It's not so much a "rule" as a statement of political fact. Now that Supreme Court has become a de facto legislative body, no nominee has a chance of getting through when the presidency and Senate are not controlled by the same party.

The reality is that if we had a Democratic President and Senate, nobody on the left would be arguing that we have to hold off until the election. Chuck Schumer would no doubt be insisting that the Senate "do [its] job", as he did in 2016. [1]

It's hard to fault McConnell for doing precisely what he was elected to do -- confirm conservative judges and justices.

[1] https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/701953299268902912