McConnell blocked legislation that would make Election Day a national holiday so that people could more easily participate in their democracy (calling the proposal a “Democratic power grab”) /1

he blocked legislation that would address Russian interference in the 2016 election and shore up election security for 2020 (calling one bill to address Moscow’s nefariousness “highly partisan”) /2

in the wake of multiple mass shootings, he held up Senate debate on reasonable gun legislation that would impose—at a minimum—background checks that nearly 90 percent of the U.S. population supports /3

and he stymied legislation aimed at lowering the cost of prescription drugs and enhancing protections for people with pre-existing conditions. /4

Most infamously, McConnell blocked President Barack Obama’s express power under Article II of the Constitution to appoint Supreme Court justices with the advice and consent of the Senate. /5

Nothing in the Constitution authorizes the Senate Majority Leader to thwart the president’s appointment power by refusing to trigger the advice and consent process in the first place (though neither does anything explicitly prevent McConnell from doing what he did)./6

Keep in mind that in a representative democracy of 327 million people, McConnell is a single senator from a single state. What this means is that a relative handful of Kentuckians hold the rest of America by the throat. This is not democracy./7

The role of Senate Majority Leader is nowhere in the Constitution, which provides only that “[e]ach House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings.” /8

McConnell’s power is not set forth in a statute passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law by a president, either. The power instead comes from rules of internal Senate procedure, which give McConnell the authority to raise measures for Senate floor consideration. /9

The Senate website says the “standing rules” are “a body of precedents created by rulings of presiding officers or by votes of the Senate, a variety of established and customary practices, and ad hoc arrangements it makes to meet parliamentary and political circumstances.” /10

Yet in the hands of an obstructionist-in-chief like McConnell, these “ad hoc arrangements” have functioned to override the constitutional prerogatives of a sitting president and the rest of Congress. /11

In a country founded on the violent and sacrificial rejection of a monarchy, Mitch McConnell has crowned himself the King of the Senate. /12

This constitutional blind spot in government by “We the People” must be fixed. McConnell has way too much power, and as long as he remains at the helm, senators won’t even get the chance to consider rule changes that would enhance the voice of the people. /end