By a straight party line vote, the Senate has eliminated the filibuster for SCOTUS nominees, who can now be confirmed with a simple majority. Judge Gorsuch will therefore be confirmed tomorrow at about 7 pm and, I am told, will be sworn in as a Justice of the Supreme Court about an hour later. I believe the confirmation vote will be somewhere from 52-48 to 55-45, depending on the decisions of Sens. Manchin (WVA), Heitkamp (ND), and Donnelly (IND). All are Democrats from states that voted overwhelmingly for Trump.
There are reasons to regret that it came to this, but reasons to applaud it as well. A discussion of these competing reasons would be worthwhile, but I will not undertake it here, because, for one thing, it's moot.
Democratic intransigence left Sen. McConnell no choice. McConnell is actually a traditionalist, and in other circumstances would have been more reluctant to end the SCOTUS filibuster. But Sen. Schumer made it clear that any nominee who did not genuflect before the race-huckstering, grievance-mongering anthem that has become modern liberalism would never get confirmed under the old rule. (I should note here that criminals are increasingly being brought into Righteous Grievance tent).
I do not expect to agree with Justice Gorsuch in every instance any more than I agreed with Justice Scalia in every instance. But for those looking to maintain fidelity to law and a rules-oriented approach to judging, the about-to-be Justice Gorsuch is good news indeed.
Leave a comment