Tuesday, April 11, 2017

At NYT, It Depends on Whose Ideology Is Advancing

Eliminate the filibuster? The New York Times applauded the move under an editorial titled "Democracy Returns to the Senate." But...that was in 2013 when Harry Reid changed the rules on judicial nominees to prevent the Republican minority in the Senate from blocking votes on Obama's court-packing project.
Fast forward to the Gorsuch nomination, when a nominee less likely to advance the Times' agenda is the subject of the first-ever purely partisan filibuster. Is the NYT consistent? 
Of course not. The Times accuses McConnell of abusing his Senate power with an editorial under the headline, "The Supreme Court as Partisan Tool"!
Let me get this one more note off my chest. Republicans not giving Garland a vote and Democrats filibustering Gorsuch are not equivalent. In the earlier case, we had a majority-elected President being blocked (asked for a more conservative nominee) by the majority party in the Senate; the very definition of check and balance. The voters didn't trust one party with both branches. In the latter case, the voters have entrusted both the Presidency and the Senate to the same party, to fill the SCOTUS vacancy. Seems like the perfect example of democracy--actually, a constitutional republic--at work.

No comments:

Post a Comment