Politico asks 13 legal scholars to evaluate SCOTUS nominee Gorsuch, and, after agreeing that he’s top notch and a great writer, the usual cacophony of opinions are produced. I found Professor Farber to be a little naive:
Still, he’s a Trump nominee, and he’s nominated for a seat that should properly belong to Garland. So why not filibuster and try to block the nomination? One reason is that the Republicans were wrong in what they did to Garland, and the Democrats were right that this kind of behavior is damaging to the Supreme Court as an institution. But there are two other reasons. First, blocking a nominee for a year when you have a majority of the Senate is one thing; blocking any appointment for four years when you’re in the minority is much less feasible (and more damaging to the court).
Second, the key thing about Gorsuch from my point of view is that he’s principled—and he seems to have enough backbone to stand up to Trump. We could use that on the court. The fact that Gorsuch has spoken against judicial deference to the executive branch in matters of statutory interpretation makes it more likely that he won’t rubberstamp Trump’s actions.
The problem is that faced by all parents at one time or another: the little boy or girl who demands something that isn’t their’s and screams bloody murder if they don’t get it. Does the wise parent reward them by giving them the lollipop?
No. Proper punishment is administered, instead.
The Senate GOP, McConnell in particular, has behaved like petulant children, and they should be punished for it. I suppose, as many commentators have noted, that the GOP will change the rules to eliminate the filibuster, and thus the Democrats won’t be able to enforce a punishment – and that will be sad, because their should be consequences for the GOP abandonment of the rules of the United States in pursuit of raw political power. The sad thing is that the traditional punishment switch, the ballot box, will not reach to Gorsuch (and, yes, I remain in the corner of making judge immune to ballot boxes), and given the GOP’s gerrymandering ways, they have insulated themselves from the ways of adults in a number of States, such as North Carolina.
No offense to Judge Gorsuch. I’m sure he’s a very nice man, and legal opinion suggests he has the respect of many judges and Supreme Court justices. He’s just the guy caught in the whirlwind.
Perhaps he and Judge Garland should form a club.
