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Letter: Graham is not qualified to judge

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, in a Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020, file photo, to examine the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. November may be Graham's toughest test yet as he seeks re-election and explains to voters how, as the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, he will push for Trump’s Supreme Court nominee on the president’s aggressive timetable, when he recently was so opposed to that approach.(Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool, File)

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, in a Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020, file photo, to examine the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. November may be Graham's toughest test yet as he seeks re-election and explains to voters how, as the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, he will push for Trump’s Supreme Court nominee on the president’s aggressive timetable, when he recently was so opposed to that approach.(Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool, File)

A bedrock principle of the United States Supreme Court is its reliance on precedent. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is the quintessential example of the opposite.

Four years ago he forcefully insisted on ignoring President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merritt Garland to replace Justice Antonin Scalia. The senator went on record, multiple times, declaring if the identical situation arose in 2020 near the end of Donald Trump’s term, he would support waiting until after the election before considering the appointment.

Hours after Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing, he reversed himself, declaring the opposite.

It is the job of the Senate Judiciary Committee to advise and consent on a president’s nomination to the court. And who is the chair of this committee? Lindsey Graham. He clearly and personally is not qualified to advise and consent on a qualification for which he has such contempt.

Thomas L. Durham, Sandy

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By Thomas L. Durham | The Public Forum