Mitch McConnell broke the Senate

by | Apr 5, 2017 | Editor's Blog, Politics | 26 comments

Neil Gorsuch is going to be confirmed for the Supreme Court this week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made that clear. Democrats have also made it clear that they will filibuster his nomination, so expect McConnell is exercise the so-called “nuclear option” and end the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations.

John McCain said ending the filibuster will be a “dark day in the history of the United States Senate.” The Senate is supposed to be the chamber that slows down legislation and requires discussion and serious debate. Ending the filibuster will allow Senators to rush through confirmations along party line votes and restrict the minority party’s chances of stopping more ideological nominees. It could also lead to ending the filibuster for routine legislation.

McConnell is blaming the intransigence of Democrats for forcing him to invoke the nuclear option and cites Harry Reid’s use of it to confirm Obama’s nominees to lower courts. But make no mistake, Mitch McConnell is responsible and he’s broken the Senate. As minority leader, he declared that his main objective was to make Obama a one-term president and stopping Obama’s agenda was key to his strategy.

McConnell turned the rarely used procedure of the filibuster into common practice to thwart the Democrats. In the first five years of George W. Bush’s term, Democrats used the filibuster 201 times. In the first five years of Obama’s term, McConnell invoked it 505 times. Reid only used the nuclear option out of frustration with McConnell’s extremism.

McConnell’s holding up Merrick Garland’s nomination was unprecedented and essentially stole an appointment from Barack Obama. Democrats’ opposition to Gorsuch lies as much with McConnell’s tactics as the nominee’s positions. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer has called on McConnell to protect the filibuster and instead find a compromise candidate for the Court.  That won’t happen. Instead, McConnell will blow up a Senate tradition to protect his extremist action of denying a sitting president a Supreme Court nominee.

Mitch McConnell has permanently altered the way the Senate works, changing it from one of the world’s great deliberative bodies to just another political entity. He may have been good for Republicans but he’s been bad for our country.

 

26 Comments

  1. Morris

    What an absolutely stupid move by the Democrats. They should have waited to play the filibuster game should Ginsburg’s seat become vacant during Trump’s presidency. That is the important one that can change the balance of the court. The filibuster of Gorsuch was such a waste because when you cut through all the rhetoric, he’s about the best pick the Democrats could have expected since they hold so little power today.
    Perhaps the thinking is that Ginsburg can make it to the ’18 election and the Democrats can regain control of the senate. Certainly possible, but the odds are not favorable.

    • R. Jenrette

      NOT a stupid move at all. The Democrats have little chance of regaining the Senate until 2020. So whether they filibustered or not, they were going to lose a vote on any Republican Supreme Court nominee any time soon. If they didn’t filibuster, the steam would whoosh right out of their now fired up base. What voters want to support their elected officials who won’t show some spine and fight?
      By filibustering in a big united (not totally but still…) group, the Democratic Senators demonstrated strength as opposed to the Republicans who couldn’t even pass the repeal of Obamacare even though it was their highest priority and should have seemed easy to their base which believed their campaign rhetoric
      Meanwhile the local Democrats empowered by large numbers of newly energized Democratic voters are organizing and keeping their steam by joining in the thousands of actions around the country.

  2. EBRUN

    Nice job telling one side of a political controversy and ignoring the other side. Since fair and balanced is obviously not a noted attribute of this blog, a summary of the other side of the controversy seems appropriate:

    No Presidential nominee to the Supreme Court has ever been blocked from a up-or-down vote by a Senate filibuster;

    Not one currently-serving Republican Senator has ever supported a filibuster to prevent an up-or-down vote on a President’s nomination, be he Democrat of Republican, to the Supreme Court;

    No nominee to the Supreme Court has ever been confirmed by the United States Senate in the final, lame duck year of a President’s term;

    Prominent Democrats including Joe Biden have publicly opposed the conformation of a Supreme Court nominee in the final year of a lame duck President’s term;

    Of the 44 Democratic Senators who supported a filibuster of an up or down vote on Neil Gorsuch, only four of them could have supported cloture, still voted against his confirmation, and thereby avoided the “nuclear option;”

    Harry Reid and the Democratic Senate majority were the first in modern times to advance the “nuclear option” when in 2013 they changed the Senate rules so that confirmation of nominees to the Federal District and Appeals Courts could not be prevented or delayed by a filibuster supported by a minority of Senators;

    The country held an important vote on November 8, 2016 that resulted in the defeat of Hillary Clinton for President and the de facto defeat of Merrick Garland for a seat on he Supreme Court;

    The above facts were ignored by Mr. Mills in his essay. Now for an opinion:

    The vitriolic attacks aimed at Mitch McConnell from the left seem motivated much more by his unparalleled success in promoting a conservative agenda rather than any absurd partisan claim that he “is bad for the Country.” In fact, one could make a strong case that McConnell has been the most effective Senate Majority leader since the reign of Lyndon Johnson, and his effectiveness no doubt provides the impetus for the left’s over-the-top invective against him.

    • MyTurnNC

      Mitch McConnell was very effective in obstructing so much that the Democrats under President Obama wanted to achieve for the people of the United States. Compromise became a dirty word in GOP politics. In doing so, he set a pattern that makes the federal government subject to paralysis and that poisoned any chance of bipartisanship in the legislative branch. Now he has poisoned the Supreme Court as well. For his efforts to destroy the strength of the three pronged balance of power of the American government which is set up by the Constitution, I call him an oath breaker. What now will protect the American people from the soul destroying ambitions of any would be dictator?

    • bettywhite

      Once again Ebrun, you’re off your rocker. There have been 6 Supreme Court justices who were confirmed in election years since 1912. Also, I see you trot out that talking point about Biden again. Conservatives just LOVE that one, don’t they? But Biden did not say that justices should never be nominated in election years. After the hearings for Bork and Thomas, Americans had had their fill of nasty Supreme Court fights, Biden said in June 1992 that if Bush were to nominate a justice, that the hearings should be postponed until after the election, and then he would be glad to consider the nomination. But he was speaking hypothetically- no justice was nominated that year. So, a Democrat mentioning a hypothetical situation is the same as the fact of what Republicans actually did? Is that how it works? The Democrats ended the filibuster after unprecedented Republican obstruction. We were approaching an emergency situation in the courts at that time.

    • Ebrun

      You blatantly mis state what I wrote. I didn’t write “election year,”
      I referred to the last year of a lame duck President’s term. That makes a huge difference and what I wrote was correct–no nominee to the U.S Supreme Court has been confirmed in modern times in the final year of a lame duck President’s term. Probably not back in the 1800s either, but that time period is irrelevant to today’s politics.

      The filibuster of Judge Gorsuch was “unprecedented” DEMOCRAT “obstruction.” Once again, the old adage “you reap what you sow” has proven to be valid.

      • Ebrun

        D.g, you’re again misquoting and distorting what I wrote. No “LAME DUCK” president has had a SCOTUS nominee nominated AND confirmed in his final term-limited year in office. None of the examples you cite meet that criterion. Even in LBJ’s situation, he was not term-limited and Fortas’ nomination failed to receive Senate confirmation as did Thornberry’s. All the other examples you cite were President’s who were not term-limited and thus do not meet the accepted definition of a “Lame Duck.”(PolySci 101)

        Your tendency to rely on obfuscation and false claims to support your political views suggest a very limited knowledge of American history.

    • Ebrun

      Opps, The reply below was addressed to Betty’s White’s post below, D.g. Don’t know why it appeared under your post.

      But in reply to your post, where did you come up with “17 months?” Scalia died in February of 2016, That’s about 10 and 1/2 months of Obama’s final year according to my recollection of third grade arithmetic.

      And I’ll bet you just can’t wait, D.g., for the full nine-member court to rule on appeals of state voter ID laws, redistricting lawsuits and transgender access to whatever locker room suits their fancy. And BTW, whatever happened to that court-ordered redistricting of NC state legislative districts and the legislative elections that were going to be held this September that would allow the General Assembly to uphold the Governor’s vetos?

      • Ebrun

        Once again, D.g., you are obviously uninformed. The three-Judge ruling last year called for the NC General Assembly to redistrict it’s State Senate and State House districts by March, 2017 so that new legislative elections could be held in September of 2017.

        The NCGA appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which issued a preliminary injunction against the lower court’s ruling in January,2017. It’s now April and no redistricting has occurred. There is no way new legislative elections will be held this coming September.

        And now SCOTUS will hear the state’s appeal with Gorsuch on the Court. Wanna bet how that will turn out?

    • Walt de Vries, Ph.D.

      Verbatim talking points, Ebrun, from which “GOP source?

  3. MyTurnNC

    Judge Gorsuch could save himself from being forever labelled as the Justice in the stolen seat. He could show some integrity by withdrawing his name before the nuclear option is enacted and stating that he did not want to be associated with the destruction of all the Senate has traditionally been.

    Yeah, dream on.

  4. Norma Munn

    We have lost so much due to McConnell, racism toward Obama, partisanship run amok, and now a final blow to one of the protections in the Senate against what incompetent or corrupt presidents can do to the third branch of government. This country will look back on McConnell as a Senator whose judgement ranks with the worst ever seen. That is, if we survive as a free country long enough for anyone to evaluate the past few years and what I fear is ahead of us under a Trump administration.

    • Jenna

      Agreed. It’s amazing how much one man has done to destroy our democracy in the past 8 years. Mitch McConnell is a disgrace to our country. The GOP thinks they are “winning” now, but they have ignited a raging fire in those of us who are true patriots and who truly care about this country. We’re going to vote all of these horrendous scumbags out of power for good and rebuild our democracy stronger than before so the likes of these cowards never see office again.

  5. KICk Butt

    I suggest that folks urge Senators McCain, Graham and Collins to vote against the change in the Senate Rules so that bipartisanship and civility may reign again in the US Senate. One can access their website to use their email messaging system. Our nation may depend on them.

  6. Lee mortimer

    Neil Gorsuch’s name will forever have an asterisk by it as a stolen Supreme Court seat. But anything that puts one more nail in the coffin of the filibuster is a good day for democracy.

    • MyTurnNC

      Before the nuclear option is exercised, Neil Gorsuch should be a patriot and withdraw his name. His statement should say that he does not want to be the cause of the emasculation of the Senate.

      • jenna

        Completely agree. Integrity is doing the right thing even when you can get away with the wrong thing. Unfortunately the GOP has not an ounce of integrity left. The kind of person that would bow out of this current situation with the Supreme Court is the kind of person that deserves to be on the Supreme Court, unfortunately all too many people in power in our country right now, don’t deserve to be there.

  7. Walt de Vries, Ph.D.

    Right on, Thomas. It was about time we got an honest appraisal of McConnell. It proves, once again, the point that if you can hang on long enough in the Senate or House (that includes North Carolina) you will become a “leader’ based not on merit but only years served. McConnell is not only the ugliest man in the Congress (what did your mother tell you about politicians with no or a weak chin?) but that is perfectly reflected in his positions on his fellow men. I believe his hatred for Obama–announced before Obama had taken office–was the most blatant and unforgivable racism. His only goal is to hang on to power no matter what and eventually that will catch up with him. What he has done to the U.S. Senate and its role in advice and consent as you say “has been bad for our country.”

    • Ebrun

      When you can’t say anything nice about a political adversary—well, ignore your Mother’s advice and resort to juvenile insults (he’s ugly and weaker chined) and vitriolic name calling (he must be a racist). Seems there is no limit to liberals’ depravity when their political fortunes are in decline.

      • Walt de Vries, Ph.D.

        Ebrun: You have re-surfaced!
        Tell you what: If you will say something nice about a political adversary–so will I.
        Example I think Trump has nice colored hair.
        Now, it is your turn.

        • Ebrun

          That’s what some might call damning with faint praise. There’s really no point in engaging in that charade.

  8. Neal F. Rattican

    I feel certain that it happened right before our eyes, yet we still didn’t notice the moment when the statesman went extinct in the U.S.? My guess is that it coincided with the point that the best interests of the nation receded to secondary consideration, if indeed they were considered at all. Just look at what we’ve become. Sad.

  9. Joanne Campbell

    Congress is over run with discontent and some hatred. I blame McConnell for all of it. His disgusting treatment of a sitting President will go down in History as the nastiest piece of work, ever. The outright anger on his face toward President Obama was visible to all who saw him, and then his silly grin as he walked along the hallway with Trump was a silly, childish reaction. A bigot of the worst kind, in my opinion.

    • MyTurnNC

      You are so right! All they did was obstruct, obstruct, obstruct and raise money.

  10. JERRY DARNELL

    Thomas

    Thanks again for your insight. McConnell has proved to be another partisan hack and this is a sad time for this great body. The hubris of the Republicans is truly stunning.

  11. Rick gunter

    Thank you, Thomas Hill, for writing the truth about McConnell. One day, and it may take a decade, Democrats will regain the majority in the U.S. Senate and will be able to push through their agenda without the GOP standing in the way. What goes around comes around, my late mother always told me while I was growing up in western North Carolina.

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