All the talk of beloved former President Barack Obama, Democrats found no Obama coattails in 2016, losing seats in Congress, state legislature and governorships around the country. Now that Trump gets his pick for the Supreme Court, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) shows why he’s a failed leader after taking over Jan. 3 from Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Schumer doesn’t get that leadership is not about pettiness, punishing Republicans for not giving Obama’s Supreme Court pick Merrick Garland a Senate hearing during his last 10 months in office. It’s beyond ironic that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) followed the advice of former Vice President Joe Biden who once asserted that that no president should push a Supreme Court nominee in the last year in office. Democrats and their sympathetic press don’t mention the “Biden Rule.”
Schumer and Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) seek to filibuster Trump’s Supreme Court pick, 49-year-old Judge Neil Gorsuch whose 10-year track record on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver has been exemplary, despite Democrats nitpicking about a few rulings. A graduate of Harvard Law School and Oxford with doctorate of laws, Gorsuch has impeccable academic and work credentials. Any Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee opposing his nomination is only for political purposes, rejecting anything linked to President Donald Trump. While Gorsuch would replace the seat left when Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died unexpectedly Feb. 13, 2016, he’s not in the same ideological mold. Announcing plans to filibuster Gorsuch, Schumer cited the most naked political reasons, dredging up McConnell’s refusal in 2016 to give Obama’s pick Merrick Garland a hearing.
Instead of making a spectacle to Gorsuch’s confirmation, Democrats should pick their battles wisely, especially one they can’t win. Citing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s 2014 decision to change Senate rules to allow Cabinet appointees and federal judges confirmation with a simple majority, McConnell will change the rules for Supreme Court nominees to the same standard if Gorsuch doesn’t get the 60-vote or supermajority standard. Called the “nuclear option,” there’s nothing Democrats can do to stop McConnell from Gorsuch’s confirmation. Instead of showing sour grapes, Democrats should show bipartisanship and give Gorsuch the 60 votes needed to confirm without a rules change. Knowing that Gorsuch gets confirmed Friday one way or another, Democrats should stop complaining, pick more important battles and show they can govern without partisan rancor.
Filibustering Gorsuch knowing it will fail only makes Democrats look more incompetent. “We’re headed to world where you need one person from the other side to pick a judge,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), worried that more ideological judges would get confirmed in the future. “And what does that mean? That means judges who are more ideological, not less,” though, in Gorsuch’s case, it doesn’t seem to be the case. Reluctant to get caught up in partisan dialogue, Gorsuch deferred commentary on controversial issues, following the Ginsburg rule that Supreme Court nominee should not opine on controversial topics, especially ones they might rule on. Graham finds it a waste to change Senate rules over a mainstream Supreme Court nominee, likely to rule with equanimity. Schumer’s decision to filibuster Gorsuch shows he’s harmful to the Democratic Party.
Looking to engage Gorsuch in sophomoric debates about abortion and workers’ rights issues, Democrats did everything possible to sabotage his nomination, despite knowing Gorsuch was widely respected by his federal court peers around the country. “Resistance activists nationwide are cheering for the vast majority of Senate Democrats who have united to deny Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, the 60 votes required for confirmation,” MoveOn’s civic action director Ann Gailan said in a statements. MoveOn is precisely why Democrats around the country have lost ground in local, statewide and national elections. Judiciary Committee members have solemn duty not to party but to evaluate Gorsuch based on qualifications and reputation. On those grounds, it’s hard to deny him approval. Democrats attempted filibuster has only negative consequences waiting.
Whatever happened last year with Garland, it’s a whole new ballgame this time around. It’s no rationale to oppose Gorsuch because he’s Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court. Democrats on the Judiciary Committee must use more than politics to disqualify one of the most qualified nominees in the court’s history. Democrats face only negative fallout from a filibuster or voting only on partisan lines. Gorsuch far exceeds the threshold for a Supreme Court pick, whether he’s picked by Trump or any other president. Schumer said the Senate Judiciary Committee should postpone the vote until Trump’s cleared from colluding with the Russians in the 2016 election. Dragging politics into everything he does, Schumer shows exactly what’s wrong with today’s Democratic Party. Unless Democrats switch gears, they’re likely to face more political consequences fighting Gorsuch’s inevitable approval.
