Judge Neil M. Gorsuch was confirmed Friday April 7th as the 113th justice of the Supreme Court.
Neil Gorsuch was President Trump’s pick for the empty seat in the Supreme Court and was also a controversial choice like many other of Trump’s choices. Democrats planned a filibuster in order to try and delay Gorsuch from reaching the necessary votes to be confirmed. However, after employing the “nuclear option” the GOP was able to change the rules and end the filibuster thus allowing Gorsuch to reach the votes he needed. Blocking the conservative leaning judge would have been a big win for liberals had he not been confirmed. Now Gorsuch will be serving on the Supreme Court indefinitely.
During the filibuster for Gorsuch’s confirmation, Sen. Jeff Merkley took the stand for over 15 hours in protest of the Supreme Court pick. According to the LA Times “The Oregon Democrat launched what is likely to be a day — and night — of resistance speeches against Judge Neil M. Gorsuch.” Merkley’s speech is a testament of what it means to stand up for what you believe in. His speech went from 6:46 p.m. EDT Tuesday, and finished at 10:13 a.m. Wednesday.
Mitch Mcconnell, the Republican Majority Leader stopped the filibuster of Judge Gorsuch by invoking the “nuclear option” which changes the rules of the Senate and allows for a majority vote of 51 instead of the typical 60 votes. This is the same man who silenced Sen. Elizabeth Warren at the filibuster of AG Jeff Sessions. These two acts show just how desperate Mcconnell and the Republicans are. First, they invoke Rule 19 to silence Sen. Warren, a rule that states “no Senator in debate shall, directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator.” This rule was originally created when two senators engaged in a fist fight on the Senate floor over a century ago. And secondly, they have invoked the “nuclear option” which changes the rules of the senate. Both of these tactics show how the Republicans like to do things. For them, it’s not a matter of debate anymore. They begin to see they might lose and they do the equivalent of a child playing a game. Then when faced with similar resistance they change the rules “Nuh-uh those aren’t the rules, these are!” And if they don’t get their way they pout.
I am certain that had it been the Democrats doing the exact the same thing, the Republicans would have lost it and called them out. As a matter of fact in a 2012 op-ed column by McConnell, “Democrats Want to Disregard Senate Rules,” he fiercely defends the filibuster referring to it as “one of the most cherished safeguards of liberty in our government—the right of a political minority to have a voice”… and “the last legislative check for political minorities and small states against the kind of raw exercise of power large states and majority parties have always been tempted to wield.” Now, five years later the same man shamelessly revoked the Senate democrat’s ability to filibuster Trump’s nominee. Going back to the analogy of a child playing a game, “It’s only fair if I do it.”
