BOMBS AWAY | GOP GOES NUCLEAR | Gorsuch To Join The Supremes
April 6, 2017
GORSUCH BLOCKED
|The Senate Democrats successfully blocked JUDGE NEIL GORSUCH’S confirmation from advancing this morning, all but asking for their Republican counterparts to invoke the “nuclear option” and change the Senate rules to lower the threshold needed to end a filibuster on SCOTUS nominees. All but four Democrats voted to support the filibuster.
BOMBS AWAY
|They did it. They went nuclear. They changed the rules of the Senate. They, being Senate Republicans of course. Not long after Dems blocked the SCOTUS nomination this morning, SENATOR MCCONNELL & Co. just did away with the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees, paving the way for NEIL GORSUCH’S confirmation tomorrow and ensuring that future high court nominees can advance in the Senate without clearing a 60-vote threshold.
PLENTY OF BLAME TO GO AROUND
|“History will be made this week in the Senate: Democrats are blocking a vote on Supreme Court nominee NEIL GORSUCH. Republicans are blowing up the Senate’s rules to confirm him. But this history comes with a history of its own, replete with temporary victories for each party and plenty of blame to go around. It’s a brawl that’s been decades in the making. And it’s put the court where it least wants to be — squarely in the middle of American politics.” That’s Richard Wolf with USA Today reporting on this week’s SCOTUS showdown. P.S. Rich is next up on the Hot Bench. Stay tuned for our interview in an upcoming edition of SCOTUSDaily…
STUPID! STUPID I SAY
|For The Washington Post, Paul Kane reports that SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN was furious at even the notion of changing the Senate rules over Gorsuch’s nomination. “Idiot, whoever says that is a stupid idiot, who has not been here and seen what I’ve been through and how we were able to avoid that on several occasions,” McCain said Wednesday, recalling past efforts to defuse these judicial confirmation wars. McCain added, “And they are stupid and they’ve deceived their voters because they are so stupid.” But WaPo’s Paul Kane reports, “Even so, McCain will support McConnell’s move to eliminate the 60-vote threshold for reaching a final vote on approving Supreme Court justices to lifetime appointments.” And support he did.
YOU DON'T WANT NO PROBLEM WITH ME
|“One by one, the senators shuffled to the lectern on Wednesday, explaining themselves grimly, reflecting on the specter of mutually assured destruction and wondering aloud how the Supreme Court nomination of JUDGE NEIL M. GORSUCH had delivered the institution to this moment.” Matt Flegenheimer with The New York Times reports that even though they decided to flip their own institution on its head, senators reached a bipartisan consensus on how terrible the Republicans’ decision is for the Senate and for the country. JOHN MCCAIN was joined by LISA MURKOWSKI, Republican of Alaska, and CHUCK GRASSLEY, Republican of Iowa, in their renunciation of changing the Senate rules.
LET'S SEE HOW FAR WE'VE COME
|Buzzfeed’s Chris Geidner and Emma Loop put together a comprehensive report on how the past year of fighting over the Supreme Court has and will forever change our country, and what we can expect once JUDGE GORSUCH joins the Supremes.
COULD IT BACKFIRE?
|“As Thursday’s rare blockade of GORSUCH underscores, Senate Democrats are willing to go to war to block PRESIDENT TRUMP’S agenda. And MCCONNELL is leaving them one very critical weapon — a 60-vote threshold (or three-fifths of the Senate) to pass any legislation Democrats don’t like…Which means it’s very likely that for the next 1 ½ years of this Congress, Democrats will have the power to hold up most major pieces of legislation Republicans want to undertake. We’re talking tax reform, health-care reform, infrastructure reform, defunding Planned Parenthood; you name it, Democrats could conceivably block it.” Amber Phillips with The Washington Post considers how the plan to “go nuclear” could ultimately backfire on the Grand Old Party.
WHO NEEDS ETHICS ANYWAY?
|And while the Senate blows itself up over the SCOTUS nomination, CONGRESSWOMAN LOUISE SLAUGHTER and SENATOR CHRIS MURPHY introduced the Supreme Court Ethics Act — a bill that would require the U.S. Supreme Court to adopt a code of ethics for justices. “The American people deserve to know that our Supreme Court justices are being held to the highest ethical standards,” said Murphy. “I’m deeply concerned about the politicization of the court. Our Supreme Court Ethics Act, which simply seeks to hold Supreme Court justices to the same standard as every other federal judge, will help hold the Court accountable to the people they’re appointed to serve.”
OTHER NEWS
Losing Employer Won't Ask Supreme Court To Overturn Landmark Gay Rights Ruling
The Huffington Post“The Indiana community college on the losing end of a landmark decision protecting gay and lesbian employees will not appeal that ruling to the Supreme Court. The battle over LGBTQ rights in the workplace stays in the deeply divided lower courts ― for now.”
Trump's Hidden Backchannel To Justice Kennedy: Their Kids
POLITICO“While the White House is focused this week on shepherding Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, through the Senate confirmation process, the president and his team are obsessed with the next possible vacancy. The likeliest candidate is Kennedy, who has sat at the decisive fulcrum of the most important Supreme Court cases for more than a decade.”
LGBT Workplace Discrimination Ruling: Who Exactly Is Affected?
NBC“Tuesday’s decision only applies in the Seventh Circuit, which covers Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. And since Wisconsin and Illinois are among the 22 states that already have state laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, the case will have the biggest immediate impact in Indiana.”
Want To Visit SCOTUS? Gird For Battle, Bring Cash, Hydrate At Your Own Risk
The Economist“As a Supreme Court journalist who has covered dozens of oral arguments over the past few years, I have the privilege of showing up a little before 9:00 a.m. on argument mornings and strolling right past the queueing throngs into the building, where a seat in the press gallery awaits me. So it was humbling when, wearing my educator hat, I discovered the challenge of bringing 20 students with me from New York to experience a day at the court.”