Courtesy of Mish.
The alleged “nuclear” option of changing the filibuster rules on Supreme Court nominees has been invoked. Like it or not Neil Gorsuch will soon be on the Supreme Court.
As threatened, the GOP Triggers Nuclear Option, Gutting Filibuster in Gorsuch Fight.
Senate Republicans on Thursday voted to strip Democrats of the power to filibuster President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, invoking the so-called nuclear option.
Senators voted 52-48 along party lines to change the Senate’s precedent, lowering the threshold for advancing Neil Gorsuch from 60 votes to a simple majority.
The move sets up a final confirmation vote on Gorsuch for Friday afternoon, after another cloture vote later Thursday followed by thirty hours of more debate.
The American Bar Association rated Gorsuch as unanimously well-qualified, but Democrats criticized him for not revealing his personal judicial philosophy during confirmation as well as for several opinions they said showed he tended to favor powerful interests over “the little guy.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued that Republicans didn’t have to change the rules to put Gorsuch on the court, and that the more sensible option would have been to ask Trump to pick a new nominee.
He said replacing Gorsuch would be fair after Republicans refused to give President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, a hearing or a vote last year.
What Goes Around Comes Around
In 2013, frustrated by repeated GOP filibusters of President Obama’s nominees, then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) first employed the nuclear option to change the rules.
The 2013 nuclear option exempted judicial nominees below the level of Supreme Court from filibusters.
Republicans extended it.
Also, recall that Obamacare passed only because it was done in a reconciliation bill not subject to filibuster. If Obamacare is ever unwound, it will also be via budget reconciliation.
Thus, there’s plenty of hypocrisy in play.
Good Thing Or Not?
