In recent years, Americans have watched as U.S. Senate Republicans like Mitch McConnell and Susan Collins have dangerously undermined confidence in our federal judiciary by playing outrageous partisan games with nominations to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

First, in 2016, these Republicans blocked the nomination of Merrick Garland to the court. Garland was an objectively qualified nominee who already sat on the prestigious D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Republicans like McConnell and Collins played partisan politics with the nomination and even failed to grant Garland a confirmation hearing. This maneuver injected politics into federal judicial nominations in a way never seen before. 

This partisan maneuvering was on display in recent weeks with the consideration of President Trump’s nomination of now-Justice Brett Kavanagh. Justice Kavanagh was not only credibly accused of sexual assault, but he also conducted himself before the Senate in a manner so unbecoming of a judge that over 2,500 law professors signed a letter opposing his nomination. Regardless of that opposition, Republicans played politics and confirmed him anyway. 

This Republican judicial partisanship is not, however, confined to Washington. 

Republicans in the Connecticut Senate this year played similar partisan games with their rejection of Andrew McDonald’s nomination to be chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court. McDonald was already a Supreme Court justice, with a long and distinguished legal record. 

State Senate Republicans, like Paul Formica and Heather Somers, took a move right out of the Mitch McConnell playbook by using the McDonald nomination to score political points against the governor, just as McConnell and Collins obstructed President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland. 

Formica and Somers could hardly articulate anything other than superficial reasons to justify their rejection of McDonald’s nomination. 

One reason given was based on the chief justice’s position involving more administrative duties. However, the argument was never made that McDonald lacked those administrative skills. His record in public service would indicate he has ample such experience. He was law director of the City of Stamford, a state senator, and general counsel to the governor, all before taking his seat on the Supreme Court. 

Some legislators brought up McDonald’s position in a death penalty case, ignoring the fact that the death penalty in Connecticut had already been repealed by the legislature. The death penalty has been abolished in every other democracy on Earth. To oppose the death penalty is not a radical legal position. Indeed, to support the death penalty is outside the legal mainstream. 

Some inferred that Justice McDonald had a liberal judicial record, but his judicial record is objectively moderate. His nomination was supported by the Connecticut Bar Association and by The Day Editorial Board. 

Formica and Somers stayed silent during the floor debate on the McDonald nomination, merely giving statements to the media that supported Republican Party leadership. In one such interview, Senator Formica specifically emphasized he was giving great weight to the arguments made by the Republican Party’s Senate leader. ("In Rejecting McDonald, Formica and Somers stuck with party", The Day, April 1, 2018.) 

The particularly sad result of Formica and Somers playing Republican games, is that Connecticut missed the opportunity to elevate the first openly LGBTQ person to a chief justice’s post in the history of United States. 

Trump Republicans in Washington, like McConnell and Collins, are no different than Trump Republicans in Connecticut, like Formica and Somers. 

If you want to fight back against this Republican assault on our judicial nomination processes, then the appropriate step to take is clear: vote for your Democratic candidate for state Senate this November. 

Daryl Justin Finizio, a Democrat, is a former mayor of New London, where he lives.