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Schumer’s Filibuster Threat Means Gorsuch Is Headed to SCOTUS
Over at FoxNews, Sai Prakash and I argue that the Democrats’s filibuster effort of Gorsuch is a sign of victory — for Gorsuch. Do we have it right?
Published in LawContrary to media reports Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s promise to invoke a filibuster signals the success, not the failure, of Judge Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court nomination. If Democratic Senators had made any progress in attacking Gorsuch’s qualifications, record, or judicial philosophy, they could persuade their Republican colleagues to reject Gorsuch. With 48 Senators in their caucus, Democrats would only need persuade three Republicans to join them.
But they cannot. Anyone watching the confirmation hearings – and between us we have watched all of them going back to the ones for Antonin Scalia, whose untimely death created the current vacancy – can tell that the Democratic Senators had already thrown in the towel. They have spent most of their time attacking Donald Trump for matters that have almost nothing to do with Gorsuch, or criticizing their Republican counterparts for refusing to confirm President Barack Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, for the same seat a year ago.
I think so.
Unlike you, I have not watched many confirmation hearings. What I saw of Gorsuch was very impressive, though. There were a few things that seemed more like bones throw to the democrat questioners, but his ability to handle obviously hostile questioning seemed rather good.
I can’t imagine any Democrat (other than Manchin) voting for any Republican nominee. Their mob (constituents) would hunt them down with pitchforks and scythes, ala Frankenstein, if they showed even deference to the Right. What this shows is the beginning of a great pullback from the activist court. Several members are on in years and sickly, so I expect that one or two other candidates will come up during Trump’s term. Kennedy, Souter and Ginsberg are the likely candidates whose retirements will alter the court. Let’s hope we get one before the next Congress.
Leahy’s comments are unsurprising. I have the very dubious honor of being born in the state that apparently can never eject him from a public seat, so there’s been a certain lack of self-awareness on his part for decades now, in terms of the reality of the world outside of DC.
The way Gorsuch deftly swacked back Al Franken’s idiotic assertions – by not rising to point out how stupid they were – takes all the steam out of them. Franken gave up, but that’s not surprising. He’s the soft white underbelly of the Democratic party. That Gorsuch kind of happily stuck to the playbook is indicative of something that’s demonstrably lacking in the Senate:
Humility.
I was very impressed with his unflappable demeanor. The frustration in Franken’s voice was music to my ears. (-:
I’m not sure why they need 51 to filibuster.
@dougkimball
Souter retired from the Court in 2009 and was replaced by Sotomayor, who will be around, unfortunately, for quite some time.
Ooops. Senior moment. I meant the other Souter, his twin, Stephen Breyer.
Gorsuch is a shoe in. Any dem who prevents it discloses themselves as the real commie stooge. I hope they choke on it.
I got some good things from watching one of the hearings. I believe Gorsuch to be sincere in always trying to see the parties as humans and individuals, despite differences. This made it easier for me to stomach the grilling of Senator Al Franken. Franken made a good point about being able to identify when legal rulings create sometime ‘absurd’ results, at least in his opinion of the truck driver ruling, and reminding people that he was in a business where his job was to identify absurdity.
I knew it was over once the media started whining about Garland. They have nothing.
Not only identify but illustrate it. His best role was in “Trading Places.”
“Senator Al Franken,” is a pretty absurd phrase to begin with.
Nutmeg Staters can be truly proud of the job Sen. Blumenthal did tying Judge Gorsuch to the Illuminati. Good grief.
The Dems offered a bad deal — drop the nuke option forever and we will let this guy get approved. When that failed, Schumer went with Plan B: declare filibuster but secretly hope that 8 Dems vote for cloture, presumably each of them saying it was a principled act on their part to allow a vote unlike the way the GOP handled Garland nomination. That way they can look principled and bi-partisan in their respective re-election bids and Schumer can say he did what he could so as to appease the loony left while the nuclear option stays off the the table for now.