 |
| The image Dems want Gorsuch to be tainted with |
Trump will get a political victory – and a BIG one! Influence over the direction the Supreme Court takes on legal issues for years to come; way much longer than the time during which Trump will actually serve as president.
MEANING
I HAVEN’T concerned myself much with the tactics being used by the Democratic
Party minority of the Senate to try to thwart a vacancy on the nation’s high
court from being filled. It’s going to happen, no matter how much senators
(including Illinois’ own Richard Durbin and Tammy Duckworth) oppose it.
There
has been speculation that the Senate’s Republican leadership is prepared to use
some hardball procedural tactics that could basically force the issue to be
addressed – regardless of the opposition from Democrats.
But
those people who think they’re being practical-minded by merely looking at the
end result (Gorsuch assuming the position, so to speak, on the high court) are
missing the point.
For
the purpose of the opposition tactics, quite frankly, is to muck up the
reputation of Gorsuch based on the circumstances to which he gained a position
on the court. Make it so that any future actions he takes get tied in so
intensely to the legacy of Donald Trump.
 |
| Some of this is payback for Garland rejection |
MAKE
IT SO that Gorsuch becomes nothing but a female dog to The Donald.
Which
isn’t a nice or honorable way for Democrats to behave. I have no doubt it
carries its share of a taint of sleaze.
But
as Democrats, including Durbin, have made a point of stating, Gorsuch only got
to have the appointment because of the partisan political games that were
played last year by the Senate in refusing for nearly a year to consider the
Supreme Court appointment of Merrick Garland.
He
was the D.C.-based federal judge who then-President Barack Obama would have
named to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
 |
| Durbin among those spewing partisan rhetoric |
BUT
REPUBLICAN IDEOLOGUES already were repulsed that Obama had been able to name
two justices to the Supreme Court (Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan) and weren’t
about to give him a third person.
The
high court, after all, only has nine justices. Republican ideologues want to
erase what they see as the taint Obama put on the federal government. Having a
court with one-third of its picks chosen by Barack was totally unacceptable.
So
Garland, a moderate pick from suburban Lincolnwood who was Obama’s attempt to
appease more conservative interests, wound up becoming nothing. Gorsuch’s
treatment, to a degree, is partisan political payback.
 |
| Duckworth efforts to meet Gorsuch ignored |
But
by making it clear that Gorsuch is a product of the Age of Trump (no matter
what he really believes), they hope his name will be the subject of sneers and
snickers similar to the way many in our society view Justice Clarence Thomas.
MORE
THAN A quarter of a century after the confirmation hearings that resulted in
the public airing of sexual harassment allegations, there are those who will
never take anything he does seriously. Particularly because of the perception
that Thomas was a pick of then-President George H.W. Bush who wanted a “certain
kind” of black person on the high court who wouldn’t be as feisty as the
legendary Justice Thurgood Marshall.
Time
will tell if a “Justice Gorsuch” winds up being someone who can look beyond
political partisanship while interpreting the law, or if he becomes so tied
into the Trump image that we can never fully look at him seriously, or
objectively.
 |
| GINSBURG: Now THAT will be a battle! |
If
anything, the real political battles will come if/when Trump gets to make Supreme
Court appointments that would replace the justices perceived as not hostile
toward progressive causes and issues.
Just
think of how ugly the fight will be if Trump gets a chance to pick a replacement
for Ruth Bader Ginsburg (who just turned 84 a few weeks ago). That will make
the current brawl seem like a silly little spat, by comparison.
-30-
No comments:
Post a Comment