Thus the Democrats will “make a statement” that will diminish their ability to stop nominations! This is an example of the “virtue signalling” that has become part of our culture. The purpose is apparently for the liberal Senators to show how “virtuous” they are to their liberal base. But the gesture will just make them even more ineffectual.
In the meantime, as Democrats demonize the distinguished Judge Gorsuch, who models the ideal judicial temperament, Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford raises some questions. From an editorial in the Daily Oklahoman:
In a recent floor speech, Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma City, deftly demonstrated that opposition has nothing to do with Gorsuch’s qualifications. When Gorsuch was confirmed to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2006, Lankford noted, support was unanimous. “He was seen as a consistent, solid, mainstream, fair judge, which means Senator Joe Biden voted for him, Hillary Clinton voted for him, Chuck Schumer voted for him, Barack Obama voted for him in 2006,” Lankford said. He argued there’s nothing to suggest Gorsuch has “left the mainstream” since that 2006 vote, noting the judge’s opinions have drawn fewer dissents than any other judge on the 10th Circuit. It says much about Democrats’ extreme partisanship that they must now tacitly suggest their most prominent liberal leaders are clueless in order to oppose Gorsuch.
After the jump, an article on the Gorsuch situation and an explanation of the filibuster and its history.
From Elise Viebeck and Ed O’Keefe, Democrats secure enough votes to block Gorsuch, setting stage for ‘nuclear option – The Washington Post:
Senate Democrats secured enough votes Monday to filibuster the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court, increasing the likelihood that Republicans will enact a rules change to ensure his confirmation and pushing the battle into a climactic final act.
Four more Senate Democrats confirmed that they will support a filibuster of Gorsuch’s nomination, giving the minority party the requisite 41 votes to maintain their procedural roadblock under pressure from Republicans.
The announcements came as members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance the high court nomination to the full Senate for debate, which is likely to begin Tuesday morning.
While the outcome of the panel’s vote was not in doubt — Republicans hold a majority of seats on the committee, and Gorsuch was approved on a party-line vote — the testy hearing foreshadowed what is likely to be a combative debate over the nomination on the Senate floor this week.
[Keep reading. . .]
By the way, the Senate some time ago adopted a rule allowing other business to be conducted during a filibuster. What this did is eliminate the dramatic “hold the floor” speeches, as in the movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
Instead of actually holding unlimited debate on the floor of the Senate, requiring filibustering Senators to stay on their feet talking–without food, sleep, or going to the bathroom–the new rule simply acknowledges the filibuster declaration. This prevents the bill or the nomination from going for a vote unless there is a “cloture” vote to shut off “debate,” requiring 60 votes. In effect, this has meant that the 100-member Senate requires not a majority vote but 60 votes to pass important measures.
I say, bring back the actual stay-on-your-feet filibuster! There would not be nearly so many filibusters if Senators had to sacrifice their physical comfort.
There are still cases when Senators stage a marathon, in person, filibuster. Usually this entails getting a series of like-minded colleagues to join in the speechifying, in a tag-team attempt to stall legislation and to make a point. Rand Paul has done this on civil liberty issues.
In 2013, Democrats invoked “the nuclear option” against Republicans, eliminating the filibuster for executive appointments, except for the Supreme Court. The coming second strike will remove that exemption. (See this for the history of the filibuster.)
Photo of Jimmy Stewart and Claude Raines from “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” by Columbia Pictures [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to recommend Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court, so Democrats are planning to filibuster. This will trigger the “nuclear option” of Republicans voting to change the rules to eliminate the filibuster when it comes to nominations like this.
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