As Democrats on Wednesday began to lay out the groundwork for a bitter battle over President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, the Senate’s top Republican said he’s confident Judge Neil Gorsuch will eventually be confirmed.
“We cannot have a Supreme Court that is delivering politically conservative outcomes,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said on CNN’s “New Day,” describing how Gorsuch’s nomination for the high court is more about politics than the nominee’s qualifications.
“I think the point now is not so much that this guy is or isn’t qualified, the point right now is that we’ve got to make sure we try to protect the court from becoming the political delivery system the five Republicans have made it,” Whitehouse, a Senate Judiciary Committee member, admitted.
He also warned that the court has veered too much to the right.
“We have seen the emergence of a five member right-wing block on the Supreme Court that is not judicially conservative so much as it is politically conservative and very activist at pursuing those politically conservative goals,” he said.
“So the big question for Judge Gorsuch is is he going to be a truly judicially conservative judge or is he going to rebuild the Republican majority on the Court that became such a wrecking crew in favor of corporate special interests, Republican elections advantage and the right-wing social agenda,” he added.
Still, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell remained confident of Gorsuch’s chances in the Senate.
“I’m not going to answer the hypothetical question about how this may end, other than to say, Neil Gorsuch will be confirmed,” McConnell said on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show.
How the battle lines are being drawn Cratosslot illustrates the challenge Trump faces in getting his nominee confirmed in a Senate the GOP controls by a 52-48 margin. Under Senate rules, 60 Senators would have to approve Gorsuch’s nomination.
But many Democrats remain upset that President Obama’s last Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, didn’t even receive a hearing in the Senate, because, Republicans on Capitol Hill said, the seat vacated by the death of Antonin Scalia in February was being held open for the new president.
But at least one Democrat said Garland’s treatment by the Republicans should be history.
“Let’s give the man a chance. Talk to him. My goodness, don’t shut it down before we even get started,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
Other Democrats are also trying to rise above the political fray.
“I think that we ought to give Judge Gorsuch exactly the sort of thorough and full hearing on the Senate Judiciary Committee that D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Merrick Garland never got. There was a 10 month delay as Senator Mitch McConnell and the Republican majority held open this seat until the general election,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) told “Fox & Friends” Wednesday morning.
“But I don’t think that we should respond in a tit-for-tat way and refuse to participate, cooperate, or hold a hearing for Judge Gorsuch. I look forward to digging in to his record, to meeting with him personally and to better understanding his judicial philosophy. And I think we should take this one step at a time,” Coons added.
Sen. Ted Cruz said Gorsuch’s nomination was the “most important moment” of Trump’s administration.
“Well, I think last night’s announcement was a major moment in our country. It was the most important moment in the first two weeks of our presidency,” Cruz (R-Texas) said on “Fox and Friends” Wednesday.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is under immense pressure from liberal groups to block the nomination of Gorsuch, who at 49 could serve for decades on the court.
Thousands of demonstrators marched on Schumer’s apartment building in Brooklyn on Tuesday night to call for him to stand up to Trump’s Cabinet picks.
“He works for us. We need him to be bold. We need him to stand up to Trump and oppose his picks,” Brad Wolchansky, a soccer coach from Flatbush, told The Post at the rally.
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