Democrats Prepare to Destroy Senate Tradition
April 3, 2017
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“Something unprecedented could happen this week when the Senate votes on Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court — but it won’t be Republicans triggering the so-called nuclear option to confirm him a by simple-majority vote.
“No, what would be historically unprecedented would be for Democrats to filibuster Gorsuch.
“There has never been a successful filibuster of a nominee for associate justice in the history of the republic — and the idea that Gorsuch should be the first is patently absurd. By any reasonable standard, President Trump nominated a jurist of impeccable temperament, character and intellect who has won plaudits from across the political spectrum. Liberal Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe has declared that ‘Gorsuch is a brilliant, terrific guy who would do the Court’s work with distinction.’ Former Obama acting solicitor general Neal Katyal, who introduced Gorsuch at his confirmation hearings as a ‘wonderfully humane and decent person,’ penned a New York Times op-ed in which he suggested that ‘liberals should back Neil Gorsuch’ because he would ‘stand up for the rule of law and say no to a president or Congress that strays beyond the Constitution and laws.’”
“Gorsuch’s credentials are impeccable: Columbia, Harvard, Oxford, federal and Supreme Court clerkships and a decade on the federal appeals bench. He received a “well-qualified” rating, the highest available, from the American Bar Association. On principles and independence, he has gotten an array of glowing references, including from some Democrats and liberals. Extensive vetting has unearthed no hint of personal scandal.
“Gorsuch has protected the Fourth Amendment rights of suspects against law enforcement overreach. And his strong defense of religious freedom doesn’t stop with owners of businesses, as in the controversial Hobby Lobby case: He has also defended those rights for Native American and Muslim prisoners. Where cases have touched on free speech and press issues, he has ruled in line with well-established First Amendment principles.”
“The filibuster is going away. Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid are to blame for it. And all Schumer has now is a talking point no one believes about sixty vote thresholds. Democrats are abandoning him. The media is abandoning him. And Schumer knows this is going to enrage the Democrats’ base, causing primaries of red state Democrats, which means the odds of him becoming Majority Leader after 2018 become even longer.”
“The reality is that no intellectually honest argument against Judge Gorsuch exists. His qualifications are impeccable — and exactly what you would expect to see for a Supreme Court nominee. His character is sterling. And his devotion to the rule of law and the text of the Constitution make him the right man to fill the seat left vacant by Justice Antonin Scalia.
If Democrats refuse to allow an up-or-down vote on Judge Gorsuch, as Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has threatened, then there’s no Republican nominee they won’t filibuster. Judge Gorsuch will be confirmed as the next Supreme Court justice. The question is whether Democrats will give him the up-or-down vote he deserves.”
