On Friday, Neil Gorsuch was confirmed to the United States Supreme Court, though it wasn’t an easy path to get there.
Senate Democrats have moaned and complained about Gorsuch’s nomination despite his qualifications. They continued their protests once Republicans exercised the “Nuclear Option” on filibusters. But it’s the Democrats who created these rules and now they just don’t want to play by them.
The hypocrisy is stunning.
Legal Insurrection’s William A. Jacobson said, “The reaction from Democrats is hyperbolic outrage.”
He pointed to two tweets from Oregon Democrat Sen. Jeff Merkely as a prime example. Just yesterday, Merkely was saying, “The dark deed is done. McConnell has just put a knife into the heart of our We the People republic.” But in 2013, when Democrats were the ones pushing the nuke button, Merkely was all for it, thanking Sen. Harry Reid for doing what “had to be done.”
Jacobson has another name for the Nuclear Option, which puts it into better prospective:
Republicans then exercised what usually is referred to as the Nuclear Option, but really should be called the Harry Reid Option, to eliminate the need for 60 votes to close debate. It should be called the Harry Reid Option because in 2013 Democrats used that procedure to eliminate the 60-vote requirement for all nominations, judicial or otherwise, other than the Supreme Court.
Keeping the Supreme Court out of the Harry Reid Option was not a principled move by Democrats. There were no openings on the Supreme Court in 2013, so there was no need to apply the Harry Reid Rule to Supreme Court nominations. But in the run up to the 2016 presidential election, both Reid and Democrat VP nominee Tim Kaine promised to use the Harry Reid Rule for Supreme Court nominations if Hillary won and Democrats retook the Senate.
Hillary didn’t win and Democrats didn’t retake the Senate. And Republicans just did what Democrats did in 2013 and promised to do in 2017.
That brings us to Thursday, when the Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas stood before the Senate and reminded his colleagues from across the aisle to lie in the bed they made. Watch above.