Readers comment on the nomination:
Well, he accepted being the whirlwind. If he was REALLY principled, he would have said “Garland is the guy you need to vote on now.”
Gorsuch will forever be remembered as a lesser Supreme, of a diminished and corrupt Supreme Court, if he’s confirmed. He’ll aways be Gorsuch (R), the Republican hack who took Garland’s stolen seat.
Yeah, and that would be the end of his career. Still, it’s a great fantasy, him up at the podium and saying, “I told President Trump that I accepted the nomination, but, like him, I lied: we should be debating Judge Garland’s qualifications and nomination.” I wonder if it ever crossed his mind to make that move.
Another reader retorts:
Gorsuch was appointed by the President and has nothing to do with Obama’s cheap shot on appointing a candidate on his way out the door that he knew full well wouldn’t be approved by the congress, who BTW at the time was controlled by the Liberals,
If Justice Scalia had passed away in October 2016, I’d be in full agreement that this was a back door appointment and the United States would have been better served by having the next President make the nomination. That’s not what happened, though. Justice Scalia died the night of Feb 12 /13, 2016, nearly a full year before the end of President Obama’s second term. It was Obama’s responsibility to make a nomination, for the good of the Nation. Indeed, at the time Clinton was the odds-on favorite to win the election – can you imagine the uproar if President Obama had stated that he was going to abdicate the choice to the future President? Given the fear, even paranoia attaching to Hillary Clinton, among a GOP that is controlled by self-interest (and perhaps that’s why they fear Clinton and Obama, who do not appear to share their motivation of taking advantage of their positions to engorge themselves and their sponsors, mostly indirectly), I suspect the business for hearing-aids would have greatly expanded in the last months of President Obama’s term – the shrieks from the GOP would have been too much for my frail ears, I’m sure, and many others.
With regard to the reader’s other point, only the Senate approves Supreme Court Justices. For the last two years of Obama’s second term, the Senate makeup was 54 Republicans, 44 Democrats, and 2 Independents (Bernie Sanders, Angus King). As the two Independents caucused with the Democrats, it was effectively a 54 / 46 split in favor of the Republicans – not the Liberals, as asserted.
Gorsuch remains heir to the epithet I.J., Illegitimate Justice.
