Speaking to Fox News this Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, stated that one way or another, Neil Gorsuch will be confirmed this week.
This is a not-so-veiled threat to change the Senate rules removing the option for a filibuster. This would allow Grouch to be confirmed with just 51 votes.
I am here to tell Mitch McConnell if it comes to it, nuke the filibuster.
For all the weeping and moaning and gnashing of teeth that would inevitably accompany such a decision, Democrats would fully own the destruction of one of the finest instruments of allowing the minority party to flex in this country. Historically, the filibuster has been used by those out of power to maintain some sway over the majority party. This forces some compromises to be made on legislation and judicial appointments.
Icons of the Senate, such as McConnell himself, are certainly reluctant to see such an instrument go. History and precedent matter in the Senate, so such changes should not be made lightly. However, Democrats would have short memories to argue revoking the filibuster is not of their own doing.
In 2013 after Republicans had blocked a series of judicial appointments by Obama, Senate Democrats under-then Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, decided to nuke the filibuster for judicial appointments below the Supreme Court.
They made the same argument then that Republicans are making now – obstructionism from the minority party necessitates the filibuster be ended.
But they cannot just change the rules when they are in power and expect Republicans to play with gloves on when they take over. If the filibuster is expendable when Democrats want circuit court justices approved, there is no reason it is not expendable when Republicans want a Supreme Court justice approved.
McConnell would be justified then in changing Senate rules and doing away with the filibuster. Institutions such as the filibuster require cooperation. It only works when both sides are willing to respect it.
Democrats decided the obstructionism had become too great when Republicans held up three nominees to the Washington, D.C., Court of Appeals. Apparently, this was too great a threat to the republic to tolerate. Greater than debates about slavery and the Civil War, greater than economic policy during the Great Depression, greater than Strom Thurmond’s opposition to the Civil Rights Act, for the filibuster was never nuked during these much more contentious times.
The lack of historical and strategic perspective reflected in the Democrats’ decision to begin undoing the filibuster is appalling. Because of this, Republicans must resist the urge to take the high road, hoping that somehow by behaving better than their opponents they can restore the standard to what it once was. To do so would simply be to fight with one hand behind their collective back.
Having seized the opportunity to retain Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat, Republicans must do what it takes. While it is unfortunate to see treasures such as the filibuster go, blame lies squarely at the feet of Reid and his ilk.
