As Republicans in the Senate threaten to go “nuclear” to confirm Donald Trump’s stolen Supreme Court pick, Neil Gorsuch, Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley stormed the Senate floor to say, “Not so fast.”
As of this hour, Merkley has held the floor for more than three hours and doesn’t look like he’s planning to stop anytime soon.
Oregon Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley plans to speak against Neil Gorsuch SCOTUS nomination all night on Senate floor. Began at 6:47pm ET. pic.twitter.com/eASgV0fITM
— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) April 5, 2017
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In a Twitter post, Merkley tweeted, “I plan to keep speaking for quite a while longer, as long as I’m able” and added that the “integrity of [Supreme Court] and Senate is at stake here.”
Integrity of #SCOTUS and Senate is at stake here. If GOP gets away with this theft now, what’s to stop them from doing it again and again?
— Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) April 5, 2017
Merkley’s decision to hold the floor over the Gorsuch nomination comes as Republicans in the Senate plan to go “nuclear” and change the Senate rules so they can confirm Gorsuch with a simple majority – all after they spent much of last year blocking even a hearing for President Obama’s Supreme Court pick, Merrick Garland.
For Republicans, the move to go nuclear follows more than two months of GOP losses on issue after issue. The GOP can’t win the game, so they’re trying to change the rules. They simply want to salvage some type of political victory at a time when Trump has turned the party into a complete embarrassment.
Merkley is right to take a stand against Republican efforts to push through the Gorsuch nomination. After all, it would only incentivize the GOP to pull similar stunts during the next Democratic presidency if another Supreme Court seat opens up.
Republicans may, indeed, successfully change the rules and confirm Gorsuch, but Democrats shouldn’t let it happen without a fight.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
