As baseball stadiums across the country opened their gates this past weekend, fans poured in to cheer on their favorite players and teams. But when players perform poorly, the rules aren’t changed to four strikes and you're out; so why should confirming a judge to the highest court in the country be any different?
Donald Trump’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Neil Gorsuch, subscribes to an extreme ideology, and throughout his confirmation hearing, he consistently dodged questions and refused to answer them altogether. As a result, 44 Senators have announced that they oppose the nominee.
For more than 200 years, the Senate has required Supreme Court nominees to receive at least 60 votes to be confirmed. But, now that Donald Trump has put forth a candidate so far outside the mainstream that there aren’t enough votes to confirm him, Senate Republicans want to change the rules. This isn’t the schoolyard -- you can’t just pick-up the ball and go home. This is the big leagues, and we play the full nine innings. If Gorsuch can’t get the 60 votes required, then we need to change the nominee, not the rules.
The Supreme Court has the final say on landmark environmental and climate rules that are paramount to protecting our communities and wild places and helping mitigate the effects of climate change. Gorsuch has proven that he won’t be a vote to protect protect our clean air and water, but rather a vote to protect corporate polluters.
Confirmations to the highest court in our nation must only advance when 60 Senators agree. This is especially important today with so many questions surrounding Judge Gorsuch’s nomination, from his failure to answer questions on his own judicial philosophy to the fact he may have plagiarized. And this doesn’t even account for the fact that Donald Trump, the person who nominated Gorsuch, is under FBI investigation for his and his campaign’s connection to Russia.
President Trump has shocked the nation with his lies, his disregard for our Constitution, his possible connections to the Russian regime, and his attacks on the judiciary, which is why it’s shocking that this is who Senate Republicans want to change the rules for.
Rather than changing the rules for Donald Trump, Senate Republicans need to recognize that Judge Gorsuch is not in the mainstream and will not receive the 60 votes required to be confirmed. The country will be more than happy to “play two,” and vet a judge that is within the mainstream of America’s laws and ideals. It’s time to change the nominee, not the rules.