To the editor:

Kansas Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran both support Senate Leader Mitch McConnell’s plan to move forward with the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee to fill the current vacancy late in this election year. They state the Senate’s obligation under the U.S. Constitution to fill high court vacancies as the basis for this support. Apparently, they didn’t feel that same obligation to constitutional duty in 2016, also an election year, when Merrick Garland was nominated by President Barack Obama to fill a Supreme Court vacancy. The Republican Senate’s rationale for this disparity is that we had a Democratic president in 2016 whereas we now have a Republican president.

Well, I checked and double-checked my copy of our Constitution, and I couldn’t find any clause that said that the Senate’s obligation to duty only applies if the sitting president is a member of the same political party as the Senate majority. So, to Sens. Roberts, Moran and McConnell, I would say: Gentlemen, your hypocrisy in this matter is on full display to the nation, and it isn’t a good look for you.

Fred Mersmann,

Lawrence