Geoffrey R. Stone on the Gorsuch Nomination And The Rule Of Law

The Gorsuch Nomination And The Rule Of Law

Senator McConnell had the audacity to maintain that the “people” should decide who should fill this particular vacancy on the Supreme Court. By employing his duplicitous strategy, he managed to shift this appointment from a President who had won the popular vote by a margin of five million votes in 2012 to one who lost the popular vote by a margin of three million votes in 2016.

This crass and unprincipled manipulation of our democracy should not be allowed to succeed. Anyone who cares about the proper and legitimate functioning of our American democracy must oppose Judge Gorsuch’s nomination, not because he is unqualified, but because of the undermining of our American democracy by Senate Republicans. Anyone who cares about the rule of law should oppose this nomination.

If we fail to take this stand, the Senate Republicans will have succeeded in placing a justice onto our highest Court who has no business being there. They will have undermined the credibility of the Supreme Court as an institution, an institution that is critical to the functioning of our Constitution. The Democrats and any responsible Republicans in the Senate should oppose Judge Gorsuch’s nomination, and invoke the filibuster if necessary. The nomination should then be withdrawn, and the president should nominate in his place a genuinely moderate justice who is acceptable to Democrats and Republicans alike. Only then can we move forward with a sense of institutional integrity.

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