Neil Gorsuch was finally confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice on Friday in a 54 to 45 win for the Republicans in the National Congress.
Gorsuch was the presidential nominee for the Supreme Court seat nominated in January of this year much to the dismay of the Democratic Party. Gorsuch was coming in as a replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia who passed away in February last year. This period has been the longest in over half a century that the Supreme Court Seat had been vacant.
The Supreme Court bench usually has nine justices to ensure that there is no stalemate. For the past year, the bench has been occupied by four judges from each party. The confirmation of Neil Gorsuch, formerly a 10th circuit court of appeal judge, now gives the Republicans a majority in the Supreme Court and the Senate. And don’t forget the White House either.
In the House
Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation was not in much doubt to either party, but the events leading up to his confirmation are unprecedented. The effects of the decisions made prior to that approval will reverberate in the law-making processes for years to come.HouseH
On Thursday, the Democratic Party issued some political filibusters to try and stall the procedure. This move was one that they had used back in 2013, though they later banned it for all lower courts with the exemption of the Supreme Court. It may be that they knew they would need it someday.
The filibusters only delayed the process for a short while. Realizing that a 60-majority win would be less likely to go their way, the House majority Republican Party moved to change the voting quota for Supreme Court Confirmation of justices to a 51-majority threshold. Nine fewer votes would be easier to garner without any help from the Democrats, with the Republicans themselves holding fifty-one seats in the Senate.
On Friday the votes were cast, and a majority of Senators voted along party lines with the notable exception of three Democrats. These were the Democrats from West Virginia, Indiana and North Dakota.
Reactions were as expected from both sides.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel said that he had expected Gorsuch’s confirmation to go through. “It was a matter of time before we got a majority in the Supreme Court and the White House,” McConnel said.
The Democrats were less celebratory about the vote. The de facto Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer was reported to have remarked, “We cannot have a pro-corporation Court… that puts the rights of companies ahead of that of that of the ordinary American.”
The Democrats voted against Gorsuch for his ‘lean towards the corporations’ stance. They may have also voted against him on the basis of a partisan grudge. Former President Barack Obama had once nominated Merrick Garland to fill Scalia’s shoes, but the Republicans in the House threw out the nomination. Rejection of their candidate may have prompted the Democrats to vote against the Republican Supreme Court Nominee.
President Trump congratulated Gorsuch on his win on Twitter.
No one knows what will happen next. Pro-Gorsuch civilians will have to wait and see whether Gorsuch will live up to his conservative portfolio, while those who are against him can only hope his ideologies are suitable for the job.
