Within an hour of learning of the death of the esteemed jurist, Sen. McConnell declared that nomination of a replacement is not the purview of the sitting POTUS, an African-American.

Thing is, Sen. McConnell graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Law, where he was president of the Student Bar Association and is, therefore, both a lawyer and, as a legislator, a maker of laws.

As such, he very well knows three things.

First, he knows what Article 2 of the U. S. says about Presidential appointments, which is as follows (emphasis mine):

“He SHALL have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he SHALL nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, SHALL appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.”

Second, as a lawyer, he knows that the word “shall” is a term of art and that as used in statutes and instruments such as the U. S. Constitution, the word conveys what is imperative or mandatory.

Third, he knows that the framers of the Constitution intended that word “shall” is to indicate the obligatory.

So, the esteemed Senator from the former slave-holding border state of Kentucky has no legal, moral,or historical grounds to stand on and his pronouncement is beyond imprudent.

Indeed, he now stands naked before us as, in terms which would be entirely understood by his supporters and colleagues, a dedicated believer the notion that the n***** in the White House is just another house n*****…