Democrats Locked In: Can They Stop Gorsuch’s Confirmation?

A trio of Senate Democrats announced their opposition to Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch on Monday, giving Minority Leader Chuck Schumer the forty votes he needs to mount a filibuster against the Republicans.

Dianne Feinstein of California, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, and Mark Warner of Virginia joined the blockade this week, foreshadowing what promises to be an explosive (and yet, very short) showdown with Mitch McConnell and the president. McConnell has vowed to push Gorsuch through by Friday, filibuster or no filibuster, which means he will probably be forced to use the “nuclear option” and change the rules of the Senate.

“Despite his impressive academic credentials, Judge Gorsuch’s record and evasive responses – even refusing to answer questions regarding his views of cases like Roe v. Wade and Citizens United – do not give me confidence that he possesses a judicial philosophy that will serve the American public well,” Warner said.

What a wise and thoughtful statement.

Of course, it’s complete BS.

Gorsuch could have gone out there with an aborted fetus under his arm, proclaiming his lifelong passion for the writings of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and it wouldn’t have changed a thing. The Democrats would just find some other reason to justify their filibuster. This is about two things: Opposing Trump and getting revenge for the Merrick Garland saga.

What it certainly is NOT about is the integrity of the Supreme Court, which was all the Democrats could talk about last spring. Oh, look at the harm McConnell is doing to the until-now apolitical judiciary! This is unprecedented! People will start to think the Supreme Court isn’t actually filled with dispassionate immortals who are not swayed by anything so petty as “opinions” or “politics.”

So this just proves that Democrats only retreat to the moral high ground when they have no other options. “They go low, we go high.” But, er, only when we can get what we want. Only when we have the majority. Only when we’re leading in the polls. If we’re behind, then screw it: Anything goes, sucka!

You’re seeing a lot of conservative pundits mount that high horse right now, blasting the Democrats for rejecting a perfectly mainstream nominee and tarnishing the good name of the Court and the Senate.

Which is fine and has its place, but let’s be serious. This is all politics, from top the bottom. As far as we’re concerned, a “liberal” judge – meaning, someone who divines their wisdom from something other than the Constitution’s original intent – should never be within 10 miles of the Supreme Court, and these clowns probably feel the same way in reverse.

If it takes breaking the hallowed rules of the Senate to put one of our own on the Court, then we’ll just have to live with it.