McConnell: In What Universe Is Ruth Bader Ginsburg Mainstream, But Neil Gorsuch Is Not?

Matt Vespa | April 06, 2017 4:20 PM

Well, the deed is done. Senate Democrats staged their last stand against Judge Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court nomination only to have Republicans invoke the nuclear option. With their procedural firewall nuked, the Senate is moving forward with a final vote on Gorsuch tomorrow at 6:51 P.M. EST after 30 hours of debate. Prior to the first votes on the nominee, Sen. Mitch McConnell criticized his colleague Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for calling Gorsuch an extreme nominee, and that only Democratic presidents pick mainstream judicial nominees. McConnell also hit Schumer for living in an alternate reality, where Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was just as forthcoming in her confirmation hearings as Neil Gorsuch, is considered mainstream--but he’s not.

Now they're threatening to do something else that's never been done in the history of the Senate: successful filibuster a Supreme Court nominee on a purely partisan basis. And for what reason? For what reason? Because he isn't qualified? Because he isn't fit for the job? No. Because he was nominated by a Republican President. This is the latest escalation in the left's never ending judicial war, the most audacious yet, and it cannot and it will not stand.
There cannot be two sets of standards, one for the nominees of Democratic Presidents and another for the nominee of a Republican President.

The Democratic leader essentially claimed yesterday that Democratic Presidents nominate justices who are near the mainstream. But Republican Presidents nominate justices who are far outside the mainstream. In what universe are we talking about here? I would say to my friend from New York, few, few outside of Manhattan or San Francisco believe that Ruth Bader Ginsburg is in the mainstream but Neil Gorsuch is not. To quote a long-time Democrat and member of the left-leaning American Constitution Society, "there is simply no principled reason, none to vote no on Judge Gorsuch’s nomination." Even less of one to block that vote from occurring at all.

That’s nonsense. Again, Neil Gorsuch got the endorsement of Obama’s former solicitor general and dozens of other liberal legal scholars. The American Bar Association gave Gorsuch their highest rating. Elections have consequences. Gorsuch will be confirmed and Democrats made it all the more easier for the GOP to fill a second vacancy.