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President Trump’s most lasting imprint on America may well come from how his Supreme Court nominee defends our democratic rights as embodied in the Constitution. His initial pick is more troubling than inspiring in that regard.
Based on his rulings, Neil Gorsuch far more often sides with corporate rights over those of employees and consumers. As evidenced by his animosity toward the Chevron rule, which holds that courts defer to federal agencies’ expertise when an act of Congress is ambiguous, Gorsuch sits to the right of Justice Scalia. Companies trying to shirk regulations will applaud that, but consumers and the environment could clearly face greater threats. Gorsuch has also sided against privacy and reproductive rights, as he did in the Hobby Lobby and Little Sisters of the Poor cases. That same partiality will not bode well when it comes to protecting the rights of the LGBT community. He’s also written that liberal lawyers rely too heavily on the courts, instead of the ballot box, when it comes to protecting our LGBT brothers and sisters.
Gorsuch must also be judged through the lens of the man who nominated him. President Trump has displayed open contempt for women throughout his adult life, and during his campaign. For Trump to place someone on the High Court who has been so antagonistic to women’s reproductive rights is truly alarming.
Having witnessed just two weeks of Trump’s quasi-dictatorial presidency, it’s highly likely Gorsuch will also hear cases that test the limits of executive power. Given that and the decades-long impact Gorsuch would have on the lives of all Americans, I stand strongly with other House Democrats in opposition to his nomination and urge the Senate to reject him for a seat on our nation's highest court.
Just as important as the substantive reasons to reject Judge Gorsuch's nomination is the fact that this seat should not even be available for nomination. The Republican obstruction that took place during the last year of President Obama's term was outrageous, and irresponsibly left the Supreme Court hobbled with eight members and interfered with justice being administered as our Founding Fathers intended. Republicans’ claim of fealty to our Constitution is hollow and they should be ashamed."
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