McConnell: Let Us List All The Ways In Which Schumer Is “A Uniquely Non-Credible Messenger†On Judicial Normshttps://hotair.com/archives/ed-morrissey/2020/09/23/mcconnell-let-us-list-ways-schumer-uniquely-non-credible-messenger-judicial-norms/McConnell set the record straight on norm-busting in the upper chamber, and Schumer’s long history of it, in a floor speech this morning. Schumer may want to pretend this started in 2016, but McConnell notes exactly when and how this generational food fight over judicial confirmations started, and who started it:
It was Senate Democrats who began our modern challenges with their treatment of Robert Bork in 1987. But the acrimony really got going in the early 2000s, when a group of Senate Democrats took the almost-never-used tactic of filibustering nominations and turned it into a constant routine for the first time ever.
“Who was a main driving force behind those tactics? Let’s consult some New York newspapers from the year 2003. Quote: ‘Schumer decided [to] put ideology on the front burner in the confirmation process… ‘I am the leader (of the filibuster movement), and you know, I’m proud of it,’ said the senator from Brooklyn.’
Quote: ‘Mr. Schumer urged Democratic colleagues… to use a tactic that some were initially reluctant to pursue, and that has since roiled the Senate.’
Throughout President Bush 43’s two terms, our colleague built an entire personal brand out of filibustering judicial nominees. Talented, hardworking people’s careers were destroyed — like the brilliant lawyer Miguel Estrada, a close friend of now-Justice Elena Kagan, who says he is ‘extraordinary’ and ‘thoughtful’ and would have made ‘an excellent addition to any federal court.’ People like that, destroyed by the Democrats’ tactics.
“This version of the now-Democratic Leader said filibustering judges was an essential part of the Senate. He said that if Republicans ever used the nuclear option to ‘change the rules in midstream’ because ‘they can’t get their way on every judge… it’ll be a doomsday for democracy.’ But of course, in the very next presidential administration, the Democratic Leader leapt at the chance to press that ‘doomsday’ button himself.
Senate Dems invented "Borking": Version 1.0 against Robert Bork, successfully; Version 2.0 against Justice Thomas, unsuccessfully; Version 2.1 against Justic Kavanaugh, unsuccessfully. Senate Dems invented
Filibuster-em-all in 1991 or 1992, against G. H. W. Bush's nominees, and took it full-term in the 2000s against G. W. Bush's nominees. The Dems' comeuppance in the Trump years is long earned and long overdue!
