Under a longstanding U.S. Senate rule, Supreme Court justices needed 60 votes to be confirmed. Today, Senate leaders blew up that rule, that is, they exercised the “nuclear option.” On a party-line vote, they made it possible for Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s nominee for the nation’s highest court, to be confirmed Friday by a simple majority of 51 votes.
AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders had this to say after today’s vote:
“The Senate’s decision to rig the rules to ram through an extremist Supreme Court Justice is a stain on our nation’s democracy and a kick in the teeth to working people who will continue to be second-class citizens to corporations. Anyone nominated for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court should be able to earn strong bipartisan support.
“Judge Gorsuch failed to obtain this support because of his troubling record of ruling in favor of corporations at the expense of everyday working people. His belief that corporations are people and his refusal to answer fundamental questions about his past rulings and judicial philosophy cast serious doubt that he would use the Constitution to protect the rights of everyone, not just the wealthy and privileged.
“During his campaign, President Trump promised to lift up the forgotten man and woman, yet at every turn he has reneged on that promise. He has attacked vital public services and institutions designed to protect working people, including an independent judiciary. His pick for a new Supreme Court Justice proves once again he didn’t mean a word of it.”