Opinion

Democrats Short-Sighted On Gorsuch

REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

Dan Perkins Terrorism Analyst
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Sometime this week the US Senate will vote on the nomination of Neil Gorsuch as a Justice to the United States Supreme Court, and the Democrats are making a huge mistake. The Democrats are not thinking through their objections and a threat to use the filibuster to block his appointment. The Majority Leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell has said he will use whatever means is necessary to confirm Gorsuch this week. When asked if he will use the “Nuclear Options” his response was, “That is up to the Democrats.”

Believe it or not, the Republicans may actually not cave into the Democrats intimidation and vote to suspend the 60-vote rule in the Senate. The concept of Cloture all started on March 8, 1917, when the Senate of the United States adopted the Cloture procedure. A Filibuster was invoked for the first time two years later on November 15, 1919, during the 66th Congress, to end the filibuster on the Treaty of Versailles. The Senate tried eleven times between 1927 and 1962 to invoke cloture but failed each time. The Filibuster was heavily used by Democratic Senators from Southern states to block pending civil rights legislation in the Senate.

Why is this a mistake? If McConnell calls for a vote to eliminate the 60-vote rule, I believe it will pass. The minority party will then be powerless to bring about compromise on judicial appointments, and all votes by the Senate will be a simple majority. If it does pass then over the remainder of Trump’s term, he may well have the opportunity to appoint at least two more justices to the court. Unless the Republicans lose control of the Senate, his appointments will drastically switch the balance of power on the court and in turn will change the direction of the court for several generations.

I asked myself, why would the Democrats choose to draw a line in the sand now when the Republicans are replacing one of their own on the court? Isn’t the next judge to leave the likely to be on the left or at least leaning to the left like Justice Kennedy? With the appointment of Gorsuch, the court would be 5 to 4. It is possible to before Trump finishes his first term the Democrats could be looking at 6 to 3. Waiting to fight the battle on the next to retire or would be the time to fight. Buy some time to see if Trump’s momentum fades and their prospects what will be in 2018 to regain control the Senate.

The loss of the direction of the court will anger many of the rank and file Democrats and look for widespread unrest to break out among the Democrats who will call for a change in party leadership in the Congress. When Harry Reid eliminated the 60-vote rule for lower court judges, he assumed they would control the White House and the Senate. Hindsight is always 20/20; now they see that they have to take a stand on the 60-vote issue for justices because if the don’t they will lose the power of the court and most important they will lose control of their agenda.

To Democrats it’s not about Judge Gorsuch, it is about control. What is going on is an old fashion game of chicken. Two kids are at opposite ends of the street on their bikes. Somebody drops a flag and each boy heads towards the other, and they see who breaks off the charge first. The Democrats are trying to intimidate the Republican to abandon Gorsuch for the sake of the Senate. The say to the Republicans, “Think about the history and tradition of the Senate you are destroying the greatest deliberating body in the world.”

The Democrats want the Republicans to surrender control to the minority party by doing what they want to be done rejecting Gorsuch and not eliminating the Cloture rule.  Democrats and their supporters are asking why don’t you reach across the isle. Who can forget the words of former President Obama when he said, “Elections matter, “ I won; you lost. Deal with it.” Perhaps Mr. Schumer should head the words of his parties’ leader. Mr. McConnell needs to step across the aisle and whisper in Mr. Schumer ear, vote yes or no on the nomination, “We won and you lost. Get used to losing for a long time.”

Dan Perkins is an author, radio and TV talk show host, current events commentator, and philanthropist. His books are available on Amazon.com. More information about him, his writings, and other works are on his website: danperkins.guru.