All you need to now about Neil Gorsuch


The Rude Pundit is on it.

I would only add that it isn’t just Gorsuch — anyone nominated by the Republican party is going to be “a pompous, self-righteous, smug little…”. It’s their nature.

Comments

  1. microraptor says

    I caught a brief interview on Last Word last night where Laurence was discussing the part where Lindsey Graham asked Gorsuch about abortion- the takeaway was how incredibly obvious it was that they’d staged it.

  2. Ichthyic says

    Just the kind of a “argle-bargle” to warm the hearts of Scalia corpse-fellaters everywhere.

    best line ever.

  3. robro says

    Rude Pundit doesn’t mention it, but I thought Al Franken’s remark to Goremuch was pretty good: “I had a career in identifying absurdity. And I know it when I see it . . . and it makes me question your judgment.”

  4. says

    Cross posted from the Political Madness All the Time thread.

    Senator Elizabeth Warren’s comment regarding Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch:

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote Monday that time and again Gorsuch has shown “a remarkable ability to shape and re-shape legal arguments in ways that benefit large corporations and disadvantage ordinary people seeking justice,” repeatedly siding with the “rights” of corporations over women, consumers, and workers.

    Further, she noted in the Boston Globe op-ed that his nomination is the latest assault within “a deliberate strategy by powerful interests to turn our courts over to the highest bidder.” […]

    http://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/03/20/neil-gorsuch-does-not-belong-supreme-court

  5. says

    Also cross posted from the Political Madness all the Time thread.

    […] while Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearing was still ongoing, the Supreme Court overturned one of his past decisions. The overturn by SCOTUS was unanimous.

    […] Under Gorsuch’s opinion in Luke P., a school district complies with the law so long as they provide educational benefits that “must merely be ‘more than de minimis.’”

    “De minimis” is a Latin phrase meaning “so minor as to merit disregard.” So Gorsuch essentially concluded that school districts comply with their obligation to disabled students so long as they provide those students with a little more than nothing.

    All eight justices rejected Gorsuch’s approach. IDEA, Chief Justice Roberts wrote, “is markedly more demanding than the ‘merely more than de minimis’ test applied by the Tenth Circuit.” Indeed, Roberts added, Gorsuch’s approach would effectively strip many disabled students of their right to an education.

    Think Progress link

    Gorsuch’s aw-shucks and bland responses during the hearing hide a history of decisions that tend to fuck with the rights of ordinary people. The opinion related to the Individuals with Disabilities Act is just one example.

    Political Madness link

  6. emergence says

    Is it possible for democrats to do to Gorsuch what republicans did to Garland for four years?

  7. microraptor says

    emergence @6:

    Doubtful, and even if they could I don’t see it as being a successful strategy in the long run unless the Republican Party collapses and rebuilds itself as something less insane. As it stands now, I don’t see how it would lead to anything other than a permanent stalemate that prevents any new Supreme Court nominees from being added.

  8. emergence says

    microraptor @7:

    I’m wondering what the best case scenario is here. All I can think of would be Trump being forced to choose someone more palatable. I have a sinking feeling that Trump’s second choice won’t be much better than his first.

  9. Ichthyic says

    Is it possible for democrats to do to Gorsuch what republicans did to Garland for four years?

    uh, the hearings are already going on, whereas the GoP completely stymied even HAVING hearings on Garland so… no?

    I wish the dems had more spine to torch this government, but they don’t, and they won’t.

  10. Ichthyic says

    …best dems appear to be willing to do here is go the same route they did with Bork, except I don’t think they even have the numbers to pull that off?

  11. microraptor says

    embergence @8:

    Trump’s not going to pick someone different unless Republicans start railing against Gorsuch. Chances of that happening appear slim.