McConnell: “We’ll Confirm Him Before We Leave”
March 22, 2017
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Day 3 of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings
1. Burgess Everett reports in Politico that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is confident that the Senate will confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court?
Sen. McConnell: “We’ll Confirm Him Before We Leave”
“‘If Neil Gorsuch can’t get 60 votes in today’s Senate, perhaps no Republican Supreme Court nominee can,’ Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday.
“‘I haven’t seen a single Democrat … indicate they were prepared to either for cloture or to vote for him,’ McConnell told reporters. ‘If Judge Gorsuch can’t achieve 60 votes in the Senate, could any judge appointed by a Republican president be approved with 60 or more votes in the Senate?…
“‘If they don’t find Gorsuch acceptable, are they taking the position that the vacancy should never be filled at all? Last year they were complaining about there being a vacancy for roughly a year,’ McConnell said, referring to Democratic outrage over the majority leader’s decision to ignore Merrick Garland’s nomination…
“‘We’ll confirm him before we leave,’ McConnell vowed.”
2. In a press release, Senator Lamar Alexander explains why Democrats would be breaking 250 years of Senate tradition if they try to filibuster Judge Gorsuch’s nomination.
Sen. Alexander: There Is No Precedent for Senate Filibuster of Presidential Appointees
“Throughout the Senate’s history, approval of even the most controversial presidential nominations has required only a majority vote. . . .
“In fact, Senate rules have always allowed senators the option to filibuster to death a presidential nomination. Yet, it has almost never happened.
“According to the former Senate Historian, with one possible exception, which I will describe later, the number of Supreme Court justices in our country’s history who have been denied their seats by filibuster is zero.
“The number of cabinet members in our country’s history who have been denied their seats by a filibuster is zero.
“The number of federal district judges in our country’s history who have been denied their seats by a filibuster is zero.
“And until 2003, the number of circuit judges in our country’s history who had been denied their seats by filibuster was zero….
“Should the Gorsuch nomination come to the floor soon, as I believe it will, overwhelming Senate tradition requires that whether to approve it should be decided by a majority vote and that there should be no attempt by the minority to filibuster the nomination to death.”
3. Attorney Paul Nitze writes in the Denver Post that his fellow Democrats should respect the confirmation system and vote in favor of a man with the skill and integrity of Judge Neil Gorsuch.
“We should endorse a confirmation system anchored in the acumen and moral character of the nominee. Gorsuch meets that test with room to spare. His talents put him among the few dozen greatest lawyers of his generation. His character is superb. . . . What I mean is that Gorsuch has a decency, moral seriousness, and bedrock respect for others that will serve our country well. If you are holding out hope that he is the next David Souter, you will be disappointed.…
“The Judge Gorsuch I know is a keen backer of judicial independence, who has remarked that ‘judges are not politicians in robes.’ We need a nominee with the moral character to protect the rule of law and stand up to Congress and the president when appropriate. In Gorsuch, we have a nominee who, long before he was thrust into the public eye, spoke often of an independent judiciary that must make ‘decisions on the legal merits without respect to the vagaries of shifting political winds.’”
4. Senator Lindsay Graham explains why Judge Gorsuch is in the judicial mainstream.
Sen. Graham: Gorsuch Has Participated in 2700 Cases, Had Only One Reversed
.@LindseyGrahamSC defines judicial mainstream: #NeilGorsuch record = “2700 cases, reversed once.” #SCOTUS #ConfirmGorsuch
— Judicial Network (@judicialnetwork) March 22, 2017
