Just to start off with, if you read my blog regularly, you might recall that I picked up on Gorsuch being the frontrunner back on 1/23. So, you know...kudos to me.
I think this is a great pick by Trump, and it's another campaign promise kept. For all the things he's wrong on (and it's a good bit) I'm very happy that Hillary Clinton wasn't the one announcing her nominee last night.
Gorsuch is a great pick. He's going to be very much in the mold of Scalia, in that he's going to hew to the letter of the law regardless of where that outcome takes him - and that's exactly what you want in a judge. One line that Gorsuch had in his acceptance speech last night, which I tweeted out was:
"A judge who likes every outcome he reaches is likely a bad judge" -Gorsuch— Bryan Caskey (@BryanCaskey) February 1, 2017
Truth.
As a practicing trial lawyer, I can tell you that it's wonderful to have a judge who will follow the letter of the law, rather than try to figure out what outcome they want, and then working backwards to get there. The proper role of a judge is to apply the law faithfully, fairly, and without any intent to reach an outcome they prefer. With Gorsuch, that's what we will all have on the Supreme Court, and we can't ask for anything better.
He's a good judge and had the Republicans did the right thing a year ago he'd have sailed through this congress with more than 60 votes. However, any attempts by the democrats to block is 100% the the Republicans fault.
ReplyDeleteSo if you were the Senate Minority leader, would you filibuster and force the GOP to nuke the filibuster, or would you simply vote no?
DeleteI think the smart play for the Democrats is to keep their powder dry for the next battle. Gorsuch doesn't change the status quo. The next appointment WILL.
DeleteI don't know what the dems will do. They likely all vote no. Even dems in competitive states need to please their democratic bases and you don't get that by siding with a Trump nominee in this climate.
DeleteRegardless if they need to use the nuke option now or if he gets to nominate a 2nd nominee, you know they will have to use it so may as well fight tooth and nail and give the base the illusion that you're trying to fight the evil orange monster.
My only point is that the republicans have no right to cry foul. use the nuclear option if you have to but this is a mess of their own making!