title:  RBG BLASTS Republicans For Crippling The Supreme Court
text: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is blasting the Republican obstructionism that has crippled the United States Supreme Court. Ginsburg said that having only eight justices sitting on the high court is simply  not good enough  to deal with the crucial issues at hand.Speaking to New Mexico State Bar Association members who had gathered on Friday, Ginsburg explained that the short-handed court had been faced with important decisions in recent months that were unable to be dealt with properly because the court does not have the intended number of justices.When we are evenly divided, it is equivalent to denying review,  Ginsburg said.  There were important issues in these four cases that we were unable to decide, and they will come back again and one of them was the president s immigration policy.Ginsburg spoke of several recent cases that had been before the court but had resulted in 4-4 deadlock rather than a final decision, which left the ruling of lower courts in place. The cases she referenced included a key case on immigration, organized labor fees, and the ability of Native American tribal courts to decide controversies involving visitors.The Supreme Court has been operating with only eight justices rather than nine since the unexpected death of Antonin Scalia in February. Before his body had even had a chance to get cold, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that Senate Republicans would refuse to consider any nomination put forth by President Obama. So far, they have held true to their word and have refused to hold a confirmation hearing for Obama s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland.Last month, Garland made history and now holds the record for the longest wait for a confirmation hearing of anyone who has ever been nominated to the Supreme Court. There is no justifiable reason that Senate Republicans have refused to give Obama s nominee a straight up or down vote. Meanwhile, the highest court in the land has been crippled by their absurd obstructionism.Featured image via Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images