Judge Neil Gorsuch: Here’s what is going to happen. . .
The Democrats will put on a Oscar winning performance to oppose him. It’s already started. For a little levity, I saw a sign carried in front of the Supreme Court tonight with the word OPPOSE professionally printed at the top and then the name Goursuch (sic) handwritten with a sharpie or crayon, direct from the OPPOSE “fill in the blank” printer, LOL.
The Democrats know they can’t stop the nuclear option and given the seat was Scalia’s, they aren’t really changing the balance of the court now (but they are extending it another 30 years) they realize this is not the hill to die on. So how to maximize their chess moves before resigning the board? Here are the moves they will make:
1) They will spend the next 3 or 4 of months in extreme bluster, threatening filibuster
2) They get to spend maximum time reinforcing to their base their opposition and maximizing political damage to Trump and Gorsuch.
3) Eventually enough Democrats will vote in favor such that the final vote will meet or exceed 60 (maybe 62).
4) The Democrats get to be the ones to set the precedent, for the time being, that the 60 vote threshold was kept and honored. If they force the nuclear option now then it’s a fait accompli when Kennedy, Ginsburg or Breyer leaves in a year or two.
5) When one of the next vacancies is addressed they get to say to everyone then the 60 vote threshold was honored. Why end it now? So when it is nuked, the Dems maximize their image.
6) The following Senator's get the kudos from their (as of the 2016 election) RED state electorate. They are all up for election (2 have not announced) and of the 33 seats in 2018 25 are being defended by Democrats while only 8 by Republicans.
Here’s the Democrat Senators that will join the Republicans:
For sure:
Sherrod Brown, Ohio
Jon Tester, Montana
Joe Donnelly, Indiana
Joe Manchin, West Virginia
Bill Nelson, Florida
Claire McCaskill, Missouri
Most likely
Bob Casey, Pennsylvania
Tammy Baldwin , Wisconsin
Probably (although these 2 have not declared their intent to run again)
Heidi Heitkamp, North Dakota
Debbie Stabenow, Michigan
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-- Modified on 1/31/2017 11:06:19 PM