Posted on 02/07/2017 7:16:25 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Readers will find no surprise, but also no sense of regret either from Chuck Schumer’s defense of minority prerogative in Politico today when it comes to Supreme Court nominations. Skipping entirely over the machinations he and Harry Reid employed to keep Senate Republicans in the minority from having a say in appellate court nominations, Schumer argues that his Democrats are the only bulwark standing between Donald Trump and an independent judiciary. For that altruistic reason, Neil Gorsuch will need to get at least 60 Senators to agree to proceed to a confirmation:
Nominees to our nation’s highest court must demonstrate that they are mainstream and independent enough to earn the support of at least 60 senators from both parties. Both of President Obama’s nominees to the Supreme Court exceeded that level of support. The simple question we are asking is: Can President Trump’s nominee meet that same test? If the nominee fails to meet 60 votes, the answer isn’t to change the rules; it’s to change the nominee.
This is not unfair or obstructionist—this is the Senate doing its job by critically evaluating a nominee who will have immense impact on the lives of Americans. The most important factor in assessing a Supreme Court nominee in the time of the Trump administration is whether or not the potential justice will be an independent check on an executive who may act outside our nation’s laws and the Constitution. It remains to be seen if Judge Gorsuch is able to fulfill that important constitutional role.
What’s rather remarkable about this piece — it’s short and easy to read in full — is that it barely mentions Gorsuch himself, and makes no case that his confirmation is problematic. That makes some sense, given that Senate Democrats confirmed him to the appellate court by acclamation over a decade ago. That includes every current member of Senate Democratic leadership, including Schumer himself.
Furthermore, Schumer’s essay contains exactly zero acknowledgement of the fact that his party put the 60-vote threshold on the chopping block with its own exercise of the nuclear option in late 2013. Schumer complains that Trump wants “to rewrite the Senate rules” for Republicans and “demanded” that Mitch McConnell “deploy the so-called nuclear option,” without even a note to point out that he and Harry Reid created the precedent to do so. In fact, the whole piece reads as if it’s Trump that’s getting confirmed, without a mention at all that his own party’s bare-knuckled tactics and especially Harry Reid’s character assassinations from the well of the Senate had nothing to do with Trump’s political emergence or their own exile into the political wilderness.
It’s an amazing example of projection. For those who have children, the entire article can be summed up thusly: “Mom, he hit me back!”
Meanwhile, a Yale law professor who identifies with the Stephen Breyer/Elana Kagan wing of the Supreme Court offers advice to Schumer et al in today’s Wall Street Journal. If Gorsuch really does need 60 votes, you’d better find a way to make sure he gets them:
Moderates could do a lot worse than Judge Neil Gorsuch—and we probably will if he isn’t confirmed. Donald Trump is clearly determined to nominate a judicial conservative to the Supreme Court. Elections have consequences, as Barack Obama once chided congressional Republicans. …
But among judicial conservatives, Judge Gorsuch is as good as it possibly gets. I have known him personally for more than a decade, since he was an attorney in the Justice Department. He is a brilliant mind, but more important he is a kind, sensitive and caring human being. Judge Gorsuch tries very hard to get the law right. He is not an ideologue, not the kind to always rule in favor of businesses or against the government. Instead, he follows the law as best as he can wherever it might lead. …
The sensible route for moderate Democrats is clear: They should cross the aisle and join Republicans to cut off a filibuster, allowing an up-or-down vote by a simple majority on Judge Gorsuch. That will prevent Republicans from invoking the “nuclear option” to change the Senate rules and abolish the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees. One way or another, Judge Gorsuch is going to be confirmed. The question is how much damage will be done to the country first.
Actually, the question is how much damage has already been done to the country by Senate Democrats, and whether they will ever own up to it. If McConnell changes the rules to allow for a simple majority to proceed to confirmation, he will only be following the precedent that Schumer, Reid, and every single Democrat in the Senate set first.
Only because of Republic stupidity in giving their votes to some radical leftist Dim nominees during years when the Dims never reciprocated. There is a fairly long list of radical leftist judges Republicans should have opposed, but instead gave many votes following the idea that a president should be able to appoint whoever they choose to the SCOTUS.
If Republicans must use the nuclear option to confirm Gorsuch, they should not hesitate for one minute, but...
The moment Trump decided to go the appeal route on the EO and then fell into the 9th circus trap he guaranteed this would happen. It’s obvious the’re going to use the courts to fight EVERYTHING and send it through the 9th.
That is why Trump is reportedly looking for a female nominee when/if Kennedy retires in June.
the problem is the Travel EO getting a TRO by a single federal judge has emboldened all the Dem supporting organizations. They are all gung ho.
I live in Seattle - you should see how the tv news is characterizing the WA AG as a hero to poor kids just trying to escape killing zones.
From orbit....just to be sure.
Lots of Dem Senate seats up for grabs in 2018...23?? While only 8 Repubs.
Shortly after the Gorsuch nomination was announced, I predicted this approach for the Democrats in the U.S. Senate. They would rather vote for Gorsuch and pretend that they protected the sanctity of the filibuster than fight a protracted battle over this particular nomination and lose in the end.
This is Antonin Scalia's replacement. The balance of the court isn't going to change even if he had a 40 year-old cloned brother who was nominated to replace him.
The nuclear option is dead so long as the ultimate collaborator, John McCain, is on our side. I don’t get how a guy who held out and refused early release as a POW could have turned into such a sell out. But he is what he is. He will bask in the glow of the attention he gets from siding with the democrats.
His rationale will be “we would not want this done to us if we were in the minority.” It will be pointed out to him that he said the same thing the last time, and the Dems DID exercise the nuclear option when the Republicans were in the minority. It will be met with a sneering and arrogant smile and a “well, we are better than them.”
Behold the Eunuchs!!
“an independent judiciary”
Independent? Like the liberal members of the SC who can be counted on to make up a nonsensical reason to vote against the Constitution?
I went to sleep last night and Chuckie was the Minority Leader anything change?
Less than 60 votes for SCOTUS appointment is not unusual, at least when it comes to nominees from Republican presidents.
Thomas was confirmed 52-48 when the Republicans were in the minority. He received 41 of 43 R votes and 11 of the 57 Democrats.
Alito was confirmed by a Senate vote of 58-42. 54-1 by Republicans (RI Lincoln Chafee voted no) plus 4 Dems (NE Ben Nelson, WV Robert Byrd, SD Tim Johnson, and ND Kent Conrad). There was no filibuster.
Schumer was in the Senate for Alito’s and, of course, voted nay. He should at least know that history, as he was a part of it.
Schumer also said the sun will rise in the West.
The new justice needs 50 votes plus a tie-breaker from the VP.
I wish I was as confident as you. Over the last few days Mitch has shown the signs of battered wife syndrome and Chucky is the wife beater with the beer belly and stained t-shirt.
Schmucky raises his arm and Mitch flinches. Not good.
Hilarious!
We need to start now identifying with a written list of all the dems up for election in next election so we can be working ahead to defeat them. I’m tired of the games in Congress.
Count the Trump-won-Red states with Democratic Senators running in 2018....I think it’s near 9. Those guys have got big issues if you ask me. It would be a shocker if the GOP took all nine.
As political reality sets in on the 10 Dims up for reelection from Trump states, getting to 60 will be easy.
But first we must allow them the grandstand.
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