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Rachel Maddow urged Democratic lawmakers – and their constituents – not to be a doormat for Republicans in the new fight to fill the seat being vacated by Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.

“As of today, Democrats have a decision to make,” the MSNBC host said. “Democrats are either doormats, or they will insist at least on consistency.”

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Maddow explained the choice Democrats face:

As of today, Democrats have a decision to make. And Republicans do too. Everybody in this country who has a senator has a decision to make on this too, and it’s very simple, actually. Democrats, presumably, are not, in this circumstance, the doormats that Republicans want them to be, right? Democrats know what happened to them. With Merrick Garland’s seat. Right? Democrats know what happened to President Obama. Having lost a democratically appointed Supreme Court nominee simply on the basis of Republicans punching them in the teeth, holding them down and taking it by force, presumably Democrats have realized they should not ratify that by just going back to regular order now and letting Republicans have this next one, too. Thank you, sir, may I have another. If the purported justification for blocking President Obama from naming a nominee to the court was that it was February of an election year in 2016 when the last vacancy came up, well, hello, it’s June of an election year this year when this vacancy has come up. Why would you not make Republicans hew to the same standard? Democrats are either doormats, or they will insist, at least, on consistency. They will insist that the Kennedy vacancy must be treated the same as the Scalia vacancy, right?

Maddow is showing Democrats the way forward

There is no upside for the Democrats meeting Republicans halfway on filling Anthony Kennedy’s Supreme Court seat. Not only would they solidify the conservative majority on the court with a Trump-picked judge, but they would face an immediate backlash from their own base.

And just as there is no upside for Democratic cooperation, there is no obligation. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell created this rule at the end of President Obama’s second term and the Democrats should simply repeat it every day until the midterm elections – and beyond.

This Democratic resistance in Congress combined with citizen activism on the streets is key to making sure Kennedy’s SCOTUS seat isn’t filled before the midterm elections.

If Democrats want to rally their base, they should immediately and forcefully slam the door shut on Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick, not act as a Republican doormat.