Schumer: Democrats will filibuster Gorsuch nomination

[DonViejo]

Source: The Washington Post




By Ed O'Keefe, Robert Barnes and Ann E. Marimow March 23 at 10:28 AM

As the Senate Judiciary Committee was hearing from witnesses for and against Judge Neil Gorsuch, his Supreme Court nomination was delivered a critical blow: Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced he would oppose Gorsuch and join other Democrats in filibustering the nomination, making it likely that the judge will struggle to find the support needed to clear a 60-vote procedural hurdle.

Gorsuch “was unable to sufficiently convince me that he’d be an independent check” on Trump, Schumer said in a Senate floor speech.

Gorsuch is “not a neutral legal mind but someone with a deep-seated conservative ideology,” Schumer added. “He was groomed by the Federalist Society and has shown not one inch of difference between his views and theirs.”

The Federalist Society, a conservative legal group, was one of two organizations that provided a list of names to Trump to consider for his Supreme Court nomination. One of the group’s top leaders, Leonard Leo, is on leave from the organization as he advises Trump on the Supreme Court confirmation process and other picks to fill vacancies on the federal appeals courts.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/gorsuch-confirmation-hearing-to-focus-today-on-testimony-from-friends-foes/2017/03/23/14d21116-0fc7-11e7-9d5a-a83e627dc120_story.html?pushid=58d3dd383a93043c00000023&tid=notifi_push_breaking-news&utm_term=.489c28f50454

[Sunlei]

1. In 2004 he worked with the bushcheney campaign. Today he refused to say who his backers are and

when he was asked to be a SC nominee.

[L. Coyote]

17. He was working in the OHIO campaign!

That alone should keep him off the court. If ever a campaign epitomized election theft and placing political interests over democratic principles, that is the one.

[Sunlei]

26. The only caselaw he wrote recently, our own SC just reported 2 days ago was done incorrectly.

I'm sick and tired of Republicans shadow secrets and Republicans political tax-free charities that do ALL the work for them. Their collusions with foreign governments. Their rape of Americas democracy.

[Achilleaze]

2. plus he was nominated by a republican traitor to America

and republican traitors are illegitimate (and deplorable)

[Sunlei]

4. yup and besides President Obama's nominee M. Garland is FIRST IN LINE.

[Sunlei]

3. Two days ago the SC stated a ruling he made couple years ago was incorrect, want Ds to check that.

Check all his cases and check what he was doing for the campaign in 2004.

[INdemo]

13. Al Franken brought that issue up in his questioning

[babylonsister]

5. I wish they'd just refuse to vote, period, invoking

the FBI investigation.

[MosheFeingold]

6. I admire the chutzpah

But I am more concerned with losing the filibuster. It is all that is standing behind a total repeal of the ACA.

If they filibuster, the Repugs will have the perfect reason to eliminate the filibuster, and then they will cause something even worst than RyanCare to go through the Senate.

[padfun]

12. And then the Dems would take the House in 2018

nt

[Maven]

15. We need to stop being afraid of what Rs will do and just assume it's every awful thing

and then fight like hell every chance we get, with every tool we have at our disposal at the time. Otherwise, what is the point? We might as well just lay down and "keep our powder dry" forever.

Filibuster now.

[Moostache]

16. Amen brother!

Fight, struggle, die (if necessary) ... but laying down and cowering in fear of what worse thing the GOP will do next is Vichy France level betrayal.

The GOP is evil to its core and has NO PROBLEM using any means necessary to achieve their aims. We cannot be the adults in the room any longer if we really want to captivate the American people.

Let me use an admittedly bad analogy....Rocky III.
The go-along / get-along / happy Rocky got rocked by Clubber Lang.
The ghetto-training / back-to-basics / street fighting Rocky came back and beat the shit out of Clubber in the rematch.

It's time to bring the thunder and damn the torpedos...FIGHT NOW.

No votes on justices.
No policies for consideration or debate.
No government business of ANY kind until the FULL, FAIR and COMPLETE DISCLOSURE OF ALL TRUMP-RUSSIAN CONNECTIONS ARE KNOWN.

Shut this motherfucker down and do nothing to help any Republican puke on anything until its done....and if that ultimately means burning the existing government to the ground and starting over from stratch, then so be it. This far and no farther, period.

[UpInArms]

20. 👆this👆

Eom

[defacto7]

30. That's how I feel about it.

Except that the de-publicans are already burning down the government and fashioning it in their own image. We need to break out the hoses and axes.
If McConnell allows the nuke option we are going to know exactly where our democracy stands.

[bekkilyn]

19. A thousand times yes!!!

What's the point of spinelessly agreeing to lose this seat without a fight, and then still losing any that go vacant later? This constant fear of, "OMG what if the Republicans _______________?????!!!!?????" is a big part of what drives people mad about this party. The Republicans don't bend over backwards every chance they get and look where they are...in possession of the entire country.

We should all be CHEERING if there is a filibuster regardless of what the Republicans do! First, they STOLE the seat in the first place, and second, if they are bound and determined to destroy this country, make them OWN it rather than being complicit with their plans out of fear of retaliation. They are going to retaliate *no matter what*. That's what sociopathic abusers do.

(Though if you read this article carefully, it really only says that Schumer has decided to join other Dems who have decided to filibuster and not that *all* Dems have agreed to filibuster. Check out the comments from our favorite senator, Joe Manchin, at the end of the article as an example that they haven't all decided what to do yet.)

[Moostache]

31. Manchin is a DINO.

He is dead to me and if being a "Democrat" has any meaning left, Schumer and Pelosi and the rest of the leadership need to get him in line or toss him over board. A ship in trouble or peril does not need to save the rats, it needs to save the ship.

[PSPS]

18. They can't change the filibuster rule until next year.

[MosheFeingold]

29. They can do whatever they want, really.

The "rules" are just a gentleman's agreement, albeit a 200 year old agreement. There is no law or force of even regulation.

They can do away with them, whenever.

[PoliticAverse]

42. The fillibuster rule can be changed at any time by a simple majority using...

the "nuclear option": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_option

[NYC Liberal]

28. Doesn't matter. They'll do it no matter what.

If the AHCA were filibustered, they'd use that as their excuse.

[wryter2000]

35. I agree with you, but...

If we can never use it because they'll invoke the nuclear option, we don't have a filibuster to begin with.

It's not worth the risk for a cabinet post, but this is a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. Betsy DeVos will be gone as soon as a Dem President is elected. Gorsuch would remain for 30 years or more.

[StevieM]

43. I think you are misunderstanding some things about the filibuster.

First, if they eliminate the filibuster for the courts, or other presidential nominations, that does not automatically eliminate the filibuster for legislation. The two rules are not linked to one another, strange as that sounds. So going nuclear on Supreme Court nominations would leave the filibuster in tact for legislative business.

Second, the Republicans can get around the filibuster just by using budget reconciliation. That was how they were going to pass this bill. Obama used the threat of passing the bill through reconciliation to get Joe Lieberman to grudgingly vote for some version of the bill. He didn't really want to do that, especially with Robert Byrd still alive, but he held it out as a last resort, having seen what happened to the Clinton plan in the 1990s. Lieberman took advantage of the fact that he didn't want to do it by making the bill as conservative as he could.

[world wide wally]

7. Plus! It's Trump's last year as Prez.

Isn't that the new unspoken rule?

[Cirque du So-What]

8. Good

Tired of the talk about 'do Democrats really want to die on that hill?' This is a filibuster-worthy issue.

[DeminPennswoods]

9. We'll see if McConnell nukes the fillibuster

It's very possible with Trump increasingly unpopular, the GOP could take a beating in 2018. Will McConnell trade today for tomorrow?

[defacto7]

27. A great litmus test...

If they don't nuke the filibuster it means they're legitimately worried about '18 and they should be. If McConnell does allow the nuke option it means they are sure of their hold on the election process and their control of government.
This could tell us a lot about whether a democracy still exists.

[FarPoint]

10. They better...

I believe for me... This is a deal breaker!!!! I will ultimately keep my wallet off limits to Democrat contribution plan if they don't filibuster.

[ffr]

11. Ding. Ding. Ding. Fight. Resist.

[appal_jack]

14. Excellent news! Hold steady, Dems.

This is a fight worth having.

Gorsuch is an awful corporatist in a smooth but ultimately unpersuasive costume.

Even if McTurtle threatens and then follows-through with a rule change, the filibuster is worth doing.

Don't let Gorsuch make frozen truckers of us all!

k&r,

-app

[Marthe48]

21. Repugnant that Dems even have to filibuster

Wish the repugs had enough leadership ability to see the situation and put a hold on every nomination hearing. trump's team is UNDER INVESTIGATION for colluding with a foreign power to bring down the U.S. Everything is suspect until the investigation is over.

But no. They will continue jamming things through, trying to consolidate their power. America was never a country where the ends justify the means. But the repugs don't work that way. Are you American? Or Republican? You can't be both.

[47of74]

22. Wow. Apparently there had been some spine implantations going on while I slept last night.

[SHRED]

25. If there was real spine

He wouldn't make it to a vote.
Democrats would have walked out following Comey's revelations Monday.

[volstork]

23. Plus,

he's a pompous asshole. We already are over our quota on those.

[SHRED]

24. Going to a vote will invoke the nuclear option

Why is this going to a vote with an FBI investigation going on?

[Cosmocat]

32. IMO - this is the stand that they should be making

I think while republicans would lose their shit, our team and a good bit of the middle would get it.

IMO, they should say that the POTUS being under investigation for colluding with Russia rises to the level of stopping anything other than the most basic and necessary administrative functions. That with the very real possibility that this administration is corrupted and possibly coopted by Putin, we can not in good faith seat a SCJ that he has put forward.

We will guarentee an up or down vote for this candidate only after this POTUS, his administrations and associates are fully exonerated, and this means after BOTH the FBI and an independent prosecutor has cleared them.

Good chance Turtle goes Nuclear Option, but no other choice, really, and this would really put democrats on the right side, after having drawn a line in the sand.

[SHRED]

33. I now realize it's going to a vote no matter what

Because Repubs are in the majority.

I appreciate Schumer calling for a Filibuster.

[wryter2000]

34. Now is the time to call your Dem Senator(s)

If you can't get through in DC, call their local offices. I called mine the moment I heard this news.

[pat_k]

39. You might want to call again and say...

... NO DEALS like the ones discussed in this article.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/gorsuch-democrats-supreme-court-236384

Just DO IT! It's not only the Right thing to do, it is the WINNING thing to do.


And, if you have time, there are a bunch of petitions/actions here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028834420

[mountain grammy]

36. YES!

They fucking better..

[BlueMTexpat]

37. This!

A million times!

[pat_k]

38. Hallelujah!

It's being reported as a "strategic" move in the effort to make some sort of a deal. I hope that's wrong (but fear it is probably so). They need to just DO IT. Stop the floor vote. Force the Repubs to go "nuclear" (which they may have no more success pulling off then they have with their repeal of ACA).

[burrowowl]

40. They damn well better!

[Mc Mike]

41. Outstanding news. It's very necessary to filibuster this repug.

Hang tough, Senate Dems.

[7962]

44. He'll be confirmed regardless. The numbers are there like it or not.

Dont know how long it will take, but i say its gonna happen
'18 is just around the corner