Neil Gorsuch is a marked man.
Much like Barry Bonds and his recording-breaking MLB home run record, Gorsuch’s confirmation to the United States Supreme Court will always be marked with an asterisk in the eyes of many Americans.
While Barry Bonds was able to break Hank Aaron’s home run record of 755 with the help of performance-enhancing drugs, Neil Gorsuch got his boost from a different power source … Senate Republicans. Gorsuch was able to become the 113th justice of the Supreme Court when the GOP majority voted to change the longstanding rules on how a justice is confirmed.
Guided by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Senate voted, in effect, to require a simple majority to confirm a Supreme Court nominee instead of the previous 60 votes needed from the group of 100. In a body made up of 52 Republicans and 48 Democrats, Neil Gorsuch was confirmed by a vote of 54-45.
Baseball purists believe Barry Bonds is a thief. They say he stole the home run record from Aaron and therefore does not belong in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Baseball writers who vote on Hall of Fame inductees agree. They have consistently voted down Bonds every year he has been ballot eligible.
Nearly all Democrats see Gorsuch in the same negative light as baseball fans see Bonds. They believe Gorsuch stole the Supreme Court seat rightfully belonging to Merrick Garland, President Obama’s High Court pick. In a totally unprecedented move, not only did Senate Republicans refuse to vote on Garland’s nomination, they refused to even give him a hearing!
Anyone who did not believe Republicans would employ the “nuclear option” i.e. change Senate rules to benefit their candidate, must have been dozing the past several years.
Republicans know the only way they can maintain their grip on political power is to tilt the playing field in their favor … in other words, to cheat. They have secured themselves major electoral advantages through the gerrymandering of congressional and state legislative districts and through constitutionally-suspect voter suppression laws.
Much like the case with Bonds, history promises to be unkind to Neil Gorsuch. He will forever be known as the illegitimate Supreme Court justice, appointed by an illegitimate president, “installed” by a radical, precedent-breaking Republican Senate.
Photo | conservativereview.com
