Democrats have landed on a new excuse to obstruct Neil Gorsuch
Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch is facing the Senate Judiciary Committee for a third day of confirmation hearings Wednesday. While he's been praised by Republicans for his strong conservative record and boasts a sterling academic pedigree, Democrats have pointed to the federal appellate judge's rulings on workers' rights and women's issues as points of concern. Some Democrats have also cited the unfair treatment of Judge Merrick Garland's nomination to the same seat by former President Barack Obama as reason to obstruct Gorsuch's nomination.
The Garland argument holds little weight at this point, as Obama has left office and President Trump has nominated Gorsuch to the seat, as is his constitutional right. But if Democrats cannot use the Garland argument or Gorsuch's own judicial record to delay the confirmation, it seems they have developed a third tactic: delegitimizing President Trump's right to nominate Gorsuch in the first place.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Gorsuch enjoys unified support from Republicans, while no Democrats have yet said they would support him. His final day of Senate hearings is Thursday.
-
Why is the Pentagon taking over the military’s independent newspaper?Today’s Big Question Stars and Stripes is published by the Defense Department but is editorially independent
-
How Mars influences Earth’s climateThe explainer A pull in the right direction
-
‘The science is clear’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
