Thursday, October 22, 2020

Confirming ACB as easy as 1-2-3

The Senate Judiciary Committee (or at least the Republicans in that group) passed Judge Amy Coney Barrett's nomination for U.S. Supreme Court, so the next step will be a full floor vote in the U.S. Senate. 

Thumb-sucking Democrats on the committee, as expected, didn't show.

Committee Democrats boycotted the vote and instead placed poster-size pictures of Americans who they say would be hurt by a Justice Barrett who might potentially cast a deciding vote striking down the Affordable Care Act and its mandated coverage for those with preexisting conditions.


Always the penchant for drama, that lot. 


I would be remiss if I didn't give major props to Twitter user @ComfortablySmug, who a mere one day after the contentious confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to SCOTUS tweeted this.





Truth is, the Dems were sunk the millisecond they chose to filibuster President Trump's first SCOTUS pick, Neil Gorsuch, back in January 2017. The GOP rightly invoked the nuclear option then, making it a mere simple majority (as opposed to the traditional 60-vote threshold) to invoke cloture on debate over a nominee. However, had the Dems not filibustered Gorsuch, said 60-vote barrier would have remained in play for Kavanaugh. Given the acrimony surrounding those hearings, the Republicans would have been hard pressed to put forth a righteous argument for the nuclear option, particularly with daunting electoral prospects ahead of them in the following month's midterm elections. 

Given the grandstanding and vapidity the Dems put forth in the confirmation hearings for Judge Barrett, they knew they had zero leverage.

Despite objections from Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is expected to tee up a key procedural test vote for Sunday, with a final confirmation vote expected Monday night.


It had been reported that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was set to retire from the Supreme Court after the 2016 presidential election, with her intent being that Hillary Clinton would be the country's first ever female POTUS and thus would have the distinction of appointing her successor. Obviously that apple cart was upset when Trump prevailed in '16, so Ginsburg chose to hang on until after 2020 in hopes a Dem president was elected. But those alternate plans also fell by the wayside with her passing last month. 


In perhaps the ultimate of cruel ironies, Ginsburg's replacement (nominated by President Trump of course) will be officially confirmed Monday.......on Mrs. Clinton's birthday. 


----------------------------------------------

No comments: