Popular vote loser Donald Trump is having his obscene reality show revealing his choice of Supreme Court nominee to fill the seat Republicans stole last year from President Obama. Trump is not expected to show a shred of decency and choose Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, so whoever he names will face a filibuster by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR).
Every Democrat should join him in that filibuster. They should do it out of respect for both Obama and Garland and for the institutions of both the Senate and the Court precisely because of the completely unprincipled way Republicans held this seat open. They should do it to lay down a marker for Trump and Republicans. They have absolutely nothing to lose in picking this fight. Losing right to filibuster a Supreme Court pick? Why try to keep it if you're not going to use it? Worried that "Democrats could lose leverage in the next Supreme Court fight if Trump were to replace a more liberal justice, since the GOP now has 52 seats in the Senate"? You have no leverage to lose. You are not going to influence Trump. Fight and obstruct. Energize your base and make Mitch McConnell own every bit of this Trump disaster.
Trump reminds people of what he said when Scalia “passed away unexpectedly,” doesn’t reiterate the conspiracy theory he forwarded that maybe Scalia was murdered.
It’s Neil Gorsuch, who you can read about at SCOTUSBlog. “Was it a surprise? Was it?” Trump wants everyone to think this was a reality show reveal. Now will see how long he talks.
Key things to know about Gorsuch. He’s young, 49. He is a budding Scalia, whom he calls a “lion of the law.” And what puts him out of the mainstream:
Gorsuch is perhaps best known for siding — strongly — with Hobby Lobby and Little Sisters of the Poor in the challenges brought by for-profit and nonprofit entities, respectively, to the contraception mandate under the Affordable Care Act.
What Ian Millhiser says: “This is the sort of nominee that no Democrat who wants to survive a primary challenge could vote for.”
Works for me: