If we follow expected events, Neil Gorsuch will be appointed to the Supreme Court. It won’t matter much, but Democrats will filibuster until Republicans take away the Supreme Court filibuster. These are just the facts now.
There will be televised hearings, good and bad questioning, politicians making speeches . . . some votes . . . and then he will be the next Justice.
Given the stakes and predictability here, why repeat this stale and ineffectual exercise by rote?
The honest and most effective path is not to continue to squabble with Republicans, but to put the question straight to the nominee: what man of integrity would cooperate in stealing this seat? What respected jurist would be complicit in the most damaging action to the Supreme Court as an institution?
Don’t let Mr. Gorsuch sit there as if he is a bystander, an innocent spectator to this episode. Don’t let Mr. Gorsuch off the hook and treat him as a solemn, privileged, esteemed public servant. Call out his personal role in this scandal and directly challenge his character.
- Make him admit his knowledge that this seat was stolen. Make him admit that Republicans refused to allow the first African American President to fill his constitutional powers.
- Take him through the criminal definition of being an “accomplice”:
A person who knowingly, voluntarily, or intentionally gives assistance to another in (or in some cases fails to prevent another from) the commission of a crime. An accomplice is criminally liable to the same extent as the principal.
- Ask him why he is so comfortable being an accomplice to this Republican theft.
- Point out that his conduct here will be the most damaging event to the Supreme Court as an institution. Make him acknowledge that the Supreme Court has no power-of-the-purse and no power-of-the-sword. It only has its legitimacy . . . which he is undermining.
- Challenge him to step aside to allow a vote on Merrick Garland. Invite him to be a patriot; to stand for something larger than his own career advancement. Make him refuse to do so.
- Then explain to him that if he is appointed with less than 60 votes, that he will have taken a “stolen seat” AND will have been jammed onto the Court through elimination of the filibuster. Surely this is too much misconduct? Challenge him: will you pledge to withdraw your nomination if the Republicans act to remove the filibuster? Will he exercise judgment and leadership in helping the country and strengthening the Supreme Court?
This, after all, is the true fight that we are having. And — at this point — it is not Republicans who are completing this scandal and theft. It is the nominee, Mr. Gorsuch, who is effectuating this wrong, and it is only Mr. Gorsuch who can stop it, who can act for the greater good of the country.
Put it to him. Clearly. Starkly. Repeatedly. Let the nominee show his true colors.