By Dave Workman
Senior Editor
Senator Charles Grassley. (Screen capture: YouTube, CNN)
The Senate Judiciary voted Monday 11-9 along party lines in favor of Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The nomination now goes to the full Senate for consideration. That may trigger the so-called “nuclear option” that would see the rules change to allow Gorsuch to be confirmed on a simple majority vote rather than the required 60 votes if Democrats mount a filibuster.
The vote came after a lengthy committee session during which Democrats and Republicans explained their reasons for opposing or supporting Gorsuch. Democrats seemed intent to justify their votes, citing several reasons. Two Democrats, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island both alluded to the Second Amendment in their remarks.
Anti-gunners do not want Gorsuch on the high court, where they fear he will be a pro-rights vote should another Second Amendment issue come before the court. That issue may very well be “right to carry” which presently has the gun prohibition lobby engaging in a furious campaign to demonize.
Not so coincidentally, early Monday saw an Op-Ed by Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) published on Fox News berating Democrats for opposing the nomination on flimsy grounds. The article appeared aimed at the threatened filibuster.
Here’s what Grassley said: “It’s become abundantly clear that if the Democrats are willing to filibuster somebody with the credentials, judicial temperament and independence of Judge Gorsuch, it’s obvious they would filibuster anybody.”
Separately Monday morning, Fox News posted list of Democrats who have announced their opposition to Gorsuch. That list includes all four senators from Washington and Oregon, plus newcomer Kamala Harris from California. During Monday’s committee debate, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein also announced her opposition. Essentially, the committee vote appears headed for a strict party-line split.
The full Senate is supposed to take up the nomination on Friday. Between now and then, there will be plenty of behind-the-scenes maneuvering.
Perhaps Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) summed it up best during his remarks when he suggested Democrats are unlikely to approve any nomination by Donald Trump because “it gets their goat” that he won the presidency. But, he added, the November election was a “referendum” on who people wanted to nominate the next Supreme Court justice.
As if to underscore the concern among gun prohibitionists about having Gorsuch on the high court, a weekend email blast, the anti-gun Everytown for Gun Safety declared that national concealed carry reciprocity legislation currently being considered by Congress “would completely gut our gun laws by forcing each state to follow the weak standards of other states — effectively making no standards at all the law of the land.”
