Senate Democrats are one-by-one lining up to block Judge Neil Gorsuch from filling the vacancy left by the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Nominated by President Trump, Gorsuch impressed Feinstein, with at least nine Senate Democrats saying they support a hearing and a vote for him. Concerning his credentials, there were no arguments; Gorsuch is beyond reproach. And he’s eminently qualified to be a Supreme Court justice. There is a problem: Trump. He won. And now the progressive base of the Democratic Party is demanding all-out war. Democrats know that they lack the political strength to do this, but it looks like they’re going to expend their gunpowder on Gorsuch, which isn’t even a major battle. A conservative is replacing a conservative with this inane filibuster attempt Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is trying to cobble together. Senate Republicans will nuke the rule to allow for confirmation of Gorsuch through a simple majority. And no, there isn’t anyone better. Lest we forget that Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas, men viewed as anathema to the Left, were never filibustered. All this shows is that Schumer and Senate Democrats are unable to cope with the fact that Hillary lacked the competitive zeal to win, and that Senate Republicans sidelined Garland’s nomination. It’s petty politics fraught with hypocrisy right now.
As For Gorsuch’s hearings, no one who is serious thought he did badly. Even MSNBC was reporting that he was killing the confirmation hearing game. Schumer penned an op-ed in The New York Times how Gorsuch was pretty much playing a game of deception by not answering questions. I’m sure Schumer respects and likes justices of a liberal stripe, like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who effused to answer questions (70 of them) at her confirmation hearing. The Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus also said that Gorsuch was just as forthcoming as Ginsburg was during this process.
Scores of liberals, including Obama’s former solicitor general, support Gorsuch’s nomination, which only further highlights the absurdity of the Democrats’ position. There’s broad political cover for them to nuke the filibuster rules to get a man that everyone knows is qualified to sit on the Supreme Court. If there is a second vacancy, and it is possible, then Democrats will have little recourse in terms of mounting an effective defense. Republicans are expected to gain seats in the Senate after the 2018 midterms. They can push through a much more hard core conservative, like William Pryor, through the confirmation process, creating a solid 5-4 conservative majority on the Court.
In the end, there really is no good reason to oppose Gorsuch. None. Even liberals agree with that sentiment.
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