THE MERKLEY MARATHON | Supreme Court A Nakedly Partisan Tool | Game Changer For Gay Rights
April 5, 2017
ED BOARD OVERTURE
|The Editorial Board of The New York Times is not happy to see the Supreme Court devolve into “a nakedly partisan tool” as we wait for Republicans to deploy the nuclear option and change Senate rules to confirm JUDGE NEIL GORSUCH. It’s up to Democrats, The Board says, to decide whether the filibuster is worth saving. NYT adds a caveat though, “What matters of course, is not some arcane voting process in the Senate. What matters is that Americans believe they are governed by law, not by whatever political party manages to stack the Supreme Court. That is what MITCH MCCONNELL has driven the Senate to put at risk — a very great risk indeed — and it may, in the end, fall to the court itself to find a way to rise above the steadily encroaching tide of factionalism.”
CHATTY CATHY
|Democratic SENATOR JEFF MERKLEY yielded the Senate floor this morning after talking for 15 hours straight to highlight his party’s opposition to NEIL GORSUCH. “This is an extreme nominee from the far right who doesn’t believe in the fundamental vision of ‘We the People’ and makes decision after decision through tortured, twisted, contrived arguments defined for the powerful over the people, and that is unacceptable.” SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL spoke after Merkley’s marathon, ridiculing his Democratic colleagues — “Democrats would filibuster RUTH BADER GINSBURG if PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP had nominated her.” Ohhh the drama.
THE FILIBUSTER BEFORE THE FILIBUSTER...SORT OF
|“Beginning early Tuesday evening and slogging through the middle of Wednesday morning, SENATOR JEFF MERKLEY, Democrat of Oregon, held forth on the Senate floor for more than 15 hours in protest of the nomination of Judge Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Though this feat of congressional masochism and C-Span content enhancement resembled a ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’-style filibuster for the digital age — rousing flourishes, meandering detours, encouragement from his Democratic peers on social media — Mr. Merkley’s effort was not technically a filibuster, as the senator was not actually delaying anything.” That’s Matt Flegenheimer with The New York Times covering the Merkley Marathon. He notes that despite the outcome being all but certain — that NEIL GORSUCH will get to SCOTUS no matter what — Jeff Merkley wasn’t ready to back down. Nearly ten hours in, and the senator declared, “I’m here on the floor at 4:20 in the morning because so much is at stake.”
WHAT'S WAITING IN THE WINGS
|Should he, or rather, when he makes it to the Supreme Court, JUDGE GORSUCH will have the chance to consider taking up three cases that could lead to landmark rulings. Lawrence Hurley with Reuters reports there are appeals pending on expanding gun rights to include carrying concealed firearms in public, state voting restrictions critics say are aimed at reducing minority turnout, and allowing business owners to object on religious grounds to serving gay couples. April 13, Gorsuch would join the private meeting among justices to discuss taking up such appeals, and April 17, the justices hear a new round of oral arguments.
HISTORY IN THE MAKING
|Darla Cameron with The Washington Post notes that no Supreme Court nominee has ever been blocked by a single-party filibuster. See how the sitting SCOTUS justices got confirmed to the bench and how many votes they accumulated to achieve a majority of votes.
LET'S DEBATE
|Amber Phillips with The Washington Post considers which party would be ultimately responsible for the death of the filibuster. “Who’s right?” she asks. “The answer depends on your politics, which probably says more about how partisan the nation has become — and as a result, rules governing political institutions are eroding— than it does answer the question about who’s to blame for the filibuster.”
IS LEGISLATION NEXT?
|“Senate Republicans are preparing to abolish the final vestige of power that the minority has to block presidential nominations, worrying many senators in both parties that the final and biggest domino — the power to filibuster legislation — will be next.” That’s Jennifer Steinhauer with The New York Times reporting.
GAME CHANGER
|In a massive victory for gay rights, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago ruled 8-3 yesterday that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects gay workers from job discrimination, expanding workplace protections in the landmark law to include sexual orientation. This is the highest federal court ruling yet to grant such employment protections, raising the chances that the politically charged issue may ultimately be resolved by SCOTUS. While an appeal is not expected in this case, another appellate court in Georgia reached the opposite conclusion last month, saying that the law does not prohibit discrimination at work for gay employees.”