The last three Supreme Court nominations were the most partisan confirmation battles since, perhaps, the confirmation of Clarence Thomas in 1991. Democrats, consumed with hatred for President Trump, tried every possible trick in the book to thwart the nominations of Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.
In 2017, unified opposition to Gorsuch by Democrats made it impossible for him to be confirmed without nuking the judicial filibuster for Supreme Court nominees — just as Senate Democrats had done under the leadership of Harry Reid for lower court and Cabinet nominees.
Only three Democrats voted to confirm Neil Gorsuch.
In 2018, Democrats panicked after Justice Kennedy, the Supreme Court’s key swing vote, retired. So, they launched an unprecedented assault on Trump’s nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, which included various efforts to postpone the confirmation, such as exploiting weak, unproven sexual assault claims from nearly thirty years prior by a woman represented by a partisan Democrat lawyer. Democrats knew those claims and others were weak and most likely bogus but decided it was worth nearly destroying Kavanaugh to postpone the confirmation until after the midterms.
Only one Democrat voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh.
Then in 2020, Trump sought to quickly confirm a replacement to fill the vacancy left by stalwart leftist Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Barrett’s testimony was undeniably impressive, and she was highly qualified, but no Democrats ended up voting for her confirmation.
Republicans, in contrast, have demonstrated that they’re more open to confirming liberal justices. For example, six Republicans voted to confirm Elena Kagan, and nine voted to confirm Sonia Sotomayor, both of whom are partisan liberals.
So, I can’t help but scoff at Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) when he said on Monday that he’s hoping for “a bipartisan vote for the filling” of the vacancy left by retiring Justice Breyer.
Durbin says several Republican senators are open to supporting Biden’s eventual nominee. Durbin told reporters he’s “spoken and texted to several Republican senators that I think may be open to the idea — no promises made — of considering a Biden nominee for the court.”
“I’m going to continue that outreach on the floor this afternoon and this evening and throughout this week,” Durbin said. “That’s my goal. I want to make this a bipartisan vote for the filling of this vacancy. It’s not only good for the Supreme Court; it’s good for the Senate.”
“I just want [Senate Republicans] to feel that they’ve been treated fairly and given the right opportunity. My list is longer than you would initially imagine.”
That’s cute. After what they did to Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett? Especially Kavanaugh.
And let’s not forget the Democrats’ unprecedented obstruction of Republican-nominated judges, including the first black woman nominated for the federal bench, Janice Rogers Brown.
Related: Biden Administration Asks Supreme Court to End ‘Remain in Mexico’
So, sorry, Durbin, your party doesn’t deserve any goodwill during this process. No one actually believes Biden will pick a judicial moderate, and whomever the nominee is, they deserve as much opposition as Trump’s nominees got, if not more. Joe Biden’s pick comes with the baggage of being a nominee who fulfills a political promise Biden made during the primaries to save his campaign. This nominee doesn’t deserve any Republican support.
