Chuck Schumer’s Filibuster Lineup The Democratic leader sets a new precedent for the Supreme Court.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/chuck-schumers-filibuster-lineup-1491262575
The Judiciary Committee sent Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court nomination to the full Senate Monday on an 11-9 “party-line vote,” as the press likes to say. What a shame. All nine committee Democrats lined up like the Rockettes to oppose the nominee whose qualifications and temperament are universally hailed.
At least 41 Democrats led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have also committed to filibuster Judge Gorsuch on the Senate floor, so he will need 60 votes to be confirmed. This will force Republicans to change Senate rules to break what would be the first partisan filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee in history. Democrats and their media friends want to portray Republicans as the radicals in this case, but Democrats are the precedent-busters.
Mr. Schumer is howling that Republicans stole this Court seat because they didn’t give a vote to Merrick Garland last year. But Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared before Barack Obama nominated Judge Garland that there would be no vote on any nominee in the election year. He was merely echoing the standard that Mr. Schumer had set when he declared in 2007 that Democrats would block any nominee that George W. Bush would send up in his final year as President.
Democrats have no good reason to oppose Judge Gorsuch so they are inventing bad reasons. Montana Democrat Jon Tester, who likes to portray himself as a centrist, announced that he’ll oppose the judge for what he didn’t say. “I cannot support a nominee who refuses to answer important questions,” he said, as if more than 2,000 Gorsuch opinions don’t provide enough insight into his jurisprudence. If the Judge wasn’t as gabby in the confirmation hearing as Mr. Tester would like, the reason is that Democrats would have used anything provocative he said to defeat him. But now even saying nothing offensive is disqualifying. What a crew.
So far only three Democrats have said they’ll support Judge Gorsuch— Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Joe Donnelly of Indiana. Mr. Schumer has apparently given them a pass to help win re-election next year in states carried easily by Donald Trump.
Mr. Schumer’s filibuster carries some risk for Democrats, at least if the GOP follows through and confirms the judge. Once the rules are changed, the 51-vote confirmation standard will prevail for other nominees during this Congress. Democrats will have played their strongest political card in a losing hand against a judge who is likely to have unanimous GOP support.
Republicans should call Mr. Schumer’s bluff and confirm Judge Gorsuch to honor their campaign promises, to defeat the implacable left, and above all for the good of the Court and the original meaning of the Constitution.
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