DES MOINES – The Why Courts Matter Iowa coalition issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Senate changing the filibuster rules to ensure the confirmation of President Trump’s nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch, to the U.S. Supreme Court:
“Senator Grassley and Republicans in the Senate just ensured that the Supreme Court will be far more partisan and political than at any time in our country’s history, after voting to end the filibuster for Judge Gorsuch and future nominees. The so-called ‘nuclear option’ completes the partisan hatchet job on the independence of the judiciary that began last year when Grassley and Republicans engaged in unprecedented obstruction of Merrick Garland’s nomination.”
“Working side by side, President Trump, Senator Grassley, and Senate Republicans have undermined the U.S. Senate, an American institution. And their vote today undermines the independence of our highest court in the land.”
“This move to further politicize the judiciary is unfortunate, and it did not have to come to this. Republicans made a choice to strip away more than two centuries of Senate tradition. If they truly cared about bipartisanship, they would have worked across the aisle to put forward a consensus nominee who could receive the 60 votes that 25 of the past 26 justices have earned.”
“President Trump, Senator Grassley, and Senate Republicans won their vote today, but the American people lost. A judge who does not believe in protecting the constitutional rights of every citizen will be given a lifetime appointment because of a partisan vote. That’s not what we expect from our judiciary, or from our Senators, and we deserve far better.”
The Why Courts Matter Iowa coalition is focused on ensuring that the federal judiciary is representative of America’s diverse population and ending the judicial vacancy crisis so that every American can have his or her day in court. Why Courts Matter Iowa is led by Iowa Citizen Action Network, Americans for Democratic Action Iowa, Progress Iowa, and One Iowa. For more information, visit WhyCourtsMatterIowa.org.
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Thursday, US Senator for Kentucky Mitch McConnell issued a statement on the matter, saying “Let me say this to my Democratic Senate colleagues…If you truly cannot support the nomination of this eminently qualified #SCOTUS nominee, then at least allow the bipartisan majority of the Senate that supports Judge Gorsuch to take an up-or-down vote. You already deployed the ‘nuclear option’ in 2013, don’t trigger it again in 2017.”
5 thoughts on “Opinion: Grassley, Senate Republicans invoke ‘Nuclear Option’ because they had no other way to win”
Well removing Scalia seems to have backfired –
A simple majority was the rule on Judges until 2003. This Statement in the article is false:
“This move to further politicize the judiciary is unfortunate, and it did not have to come to this. Republicans made a choice to strip away more than two centuries of Senate tradition.
This Judge is extremely qualified.
The rule change is just bringing things back to the way they were before 2003. I may ad, judicial nominees have never been filibustered in history. This is just a democrat ploy for fund raising and is a shame.
Thank Democrat Harry Ried for using this rule on lower court nominees during the Bush years, he opened the door.
Dems have nothing to complain about, they are just doing this for fund raising for the next election, a sick game they play.
Forgot to add, Senate rules from the beginning of the country until 2003 was a simple majority. This is not really nuclear, It just moves things back the way they were in the beginning,
Exactly John. Gorsuch will be confirmed today and with any luck at all we will get another one confirmed this year.
Booom !