Nominally today, the Republican president and the Republican Senate are not in disagreement. But we are all acutely aware that the country and the court are deeply divided.

Will enough Republicans want to reverse our national polarization, and prioritize protecting the integrity of our institutions over claiming partisan spoils? If not, will a President Biden be guided by his own moderate, bipartisan impulses, or will the prospect of a partisan, oppositional Supreme Court undermining his ability to govern prompt him to plunge into partisan procedural warfare?

When, during the Obama presidency, Democrats responded to a Republican blockade against nominations to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by using the nuclear option to junk the filibuster for lower court appointments, McConnell famously responded, “You’ll regret this, and you may regret this a lot sooner than you think.” If he won’t heed the wisdom of his own words now, we need somebody in power who will.