# Schumer Urges Filibuster to Block Gorsuch Confirmation
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [March 23, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845 "2017-03-23T16:45:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 35
### Author:  [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/681 "2017-04-06T16:21:28Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> Nope, Republicans are not supposed to be the Christian party.
They may not be supposed to, and they may not live up to it, but they certainly seem to imply they are.
They (conservatives) absolutely imply that others are not, and that is something that is wrong with them (not-conservatives).
> [@](#):
>
> And, yeah, we’re well on our way to eye-for-an-eye and the whole world is blind.
>
> But why don’t you exhort your side to de- **esalate**?
Would de-escalation do any good?
How would you suggest one side or the other de-escalate, without that side essentially losing and marginalizing themselves for a generation or so?
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> My question was, “Why don’t you exhort _your side_ to de- **esalate**?”
>
> Your side includes elected officials, to be sure, but isn’t limited to them. People here are on your side.
People here are at most voters. We are having a debate, some might even say a great debate, over what best positions to take in regards to voting and conferring with our congress critters, and talking to our peers, n convincing them to do the same.
As long as things are not heated and pit worthy here, there really is not much to de-escalate, unless by de-escalate, you mean admit defeat and give up.
(my bold in the above.) Not meaning to nitpick or anything, I am just curious, as both of those de-escalate’s are typo’d exactly the same way, does your spellchecker have “esalate” in it as a word?
---
### Author:  [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/682 "2017-04-06T16:25:39Z")
> [@Bricker (to Evil Economist)](#):
>
> I’m done with you.
Aww, **Evil** , you must feel _soooo_ disappointed! **Bricker** has rejected you - how will you pull yourself together now?
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> And as for you:
That part is funny all by itself. “And as for you:” makes you sound like the guy who thinks he can put everyone in their place.
---
### Author:  [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2017, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/683 "2017-04-06T16:29:42Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#):
>
> Aaaaaand…the Dems filibustered Gorsuch.
>
> Will be calling my Senators this afternoon to thank them.
You can thank them on behalf of this conservative Utahn as well
---
### Author:  [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2017, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/684 "2017-04-06T16:31:31Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#):
>
> You can thank them on behalf of this conservative Utahn as well
Thankfully for Republicans, there’s no way ending the filibuster could possibly come back and bite them in the ass. This is an absolutely risk-free and negative-free action.
Go team!
---
### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/685 "2017-04-06T16:32:16Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#):
>
> So what was the difference between the treatment of Haynsworth and Bork aside from the # of Republicans voting against them?
Haynsworth’s numbers are in stark contrast: 19 Democrats and 26 Republicans voted for; 38 Democrats and 17 Republicans voted against.
And while there were unjustified attacks on his record, the attacks against Haynsworth were not as vicious or as propagated to the public as those against Bork’s were. The complaint was that Haynsworth ruled too strictly against labor, not that “In Haynsworth’s America, labor leaders would be taken away in midnight raids.”
Against Bork, Kennedy said that in Robert Bork’s America, rogue police could break down citizens’ doors in midnight raids.
---
### Author:  [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/686 "2017-04-06T16:33:37Z")
Just saw on Twitter:
> [@](#):
>
> Graham, McCain, Collins, Corker, Murkowski – the most hesitant Republicans on Reid Rule/nuclear option – all vote for it.
---
### Author:  [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2017, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/687 "2017-04-06T16:35:55Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#):
>
> Thankfully for Republicans, there’s no way ending the filibuster could possibly come back and bite them in the ass. This is an absolutely risk-free and negative-free action.
>
> Go team!
I accept that at some future date, Republicans will be the minority party in the Senate and they would like to find themselves with the power to filibuster, but the Dems actions in 2013 showed them and me that that’s not a reasonable hope. I accept that the filibuster is on it’s way out, and I’d prefer that Gorsuch not be its final victim.
---
### Author:  [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2017, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/688 "2017-04-06T16:42:24Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#):
>
> I accept that at some future date, Republicans will be the minority party in the Senate and they would like to find themselves with the power to filibuster, but the Dems actions in 2013 showed them and me that that’s not a reasonable hope. I accept that the filibuster is on it’s way out, and I’d prefer that Gorsuch not be its final victim.
Similarly, the Republicans’ actions in 2016 and now have shown me that there’s no reasonable hope that the Republicans wouldn’t end the filibuster later (for example, to replace RBG). Thus, the Democrats lost nothing by using the filibuster and having it removed.
---
### Author:  [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2017, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/689 "2017-04-06T16:43:24Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> Haynsworth’s numbers are in stark contrast: 19 Democrats and 26 Republicans voted for; 38 Democrats and 17 Republicans voted against.
>
> And while there were unjustified attacks on his record, the attacks against Haynsworth were not as vicious or as propagated to the public as those against Bork’s were. The complaint was that Haynsworth ruled too strictly against labor, not that “In Haynsworth’s America, labor leaders would be taken away in midnight raids.”
>
> Against Bork, Kennedy said that in Robert Bork’s America, rogue police could break down citizens’ doors in midnight raids.
Was Kennedy’s attack on Bork the only one you consider beyond the pale (or otherwise out of the ordinary)?
---
### Author:  [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2017, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/690 "2017-04-06T16:46:11Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> Haynsworth’s numbers are in stark contrast: 19 Democrats and 26 Republicans voted for; 38 Democrats and 17 Republicans voted against.
This strikes me as a fundamentally flawed way of thinking through the history.
X opposition votes in Y year has a completely different political meaning from X opposition votes decades later or earlier, because there has been a dramatic realignment in our politics. Our parties are much more ideologically polarized. Winning just a single vote from across the aisle in the Senate these days is a huge bipartisan victory. Thirty years ago, it would be proof that the bill was hopelessly partisan.
Both sides make this mistake. The fact that a handful of Republicans opposed Bork doesn’t prove it was bipartisan in the sense of crossing ideological lines. Those Senators would all be Democrats now! And the further back you go, the more ridiculous this exercise becomes.
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> Against Bork, Kennedy said that in Robert Bork’s America, rogue police could break down citizens’ doors in midnight raids.
Your post seems to suggest you think this is so self-evidently wrong that it doesn’t even merit explanation of why it’s wrong. I don’t think that’s the case.
---
### Author:  [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2017, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/691 "2017-04-06T16:46:39Z")
Moving forward, I don’t expect any SCOTUS vacancies to be filled unless the WH and the Senate are controlled by the same party. That’s the new normal.
---
### Author:  [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/692 "2017-04-06T16:48:07Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#):
>
> but the Dems actions in 2013 showed them and me that that’s not a reasonable hope.
You keep going on about 2013. Somehow the circumstances that the GOP put the Dems in never seems to figure into your comments.
---
### Author:  [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/693 "2017-04-06T16:48:43Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#):
>
> Similarly, the Republicans’ actions in 2016 and now have shown me that there’s no reasonable hope that the Republicans wouldn’t end the filibuster later (for example, to replace RBG). Thus, the Democrats lost nothing by using the filibuster and having it removed.
It doesn’t matter now, but I wasn’t as confident as you were that Senators Graham, McCain, Collins, Corker, and Murkowski would have supported removing the filibuster to, for example, replace RBG with William Pryor. They might have, but it was a question in my mind that (thankfully) will not have to be answered now.
---
### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/694 "2017-04-06T16:48:56Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#):
>
> Just saw on Twitter:
_sigh_
This is not actually a good step.
But at least it will have a good short-term result.
Two, if you count irritating some of the most irritating people.
---
### Author:  [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/695 "2017-04-06T16:50:26Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#):
>
> You keep going on about 2013. Somehow the circumstances that the GOP put the Dems in never seems to figure into your comments.
I talk about 2013 because that was when the “nuclear option” was first used. Surely you can see how it’s relevant to today’s events? Yes, there were circumstances then that led the Dems to conclude they had no reasonable course of action but go nuclear, just like today there were circumstances that led the Republicans to conclude they had no reasonable course of action but go nuclear.
---
### Author:  [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/696 "2017-04-06T16:51:54Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#):
>
> It doesn’t matter now, but I wasn’t as confident as you were that Senators Graham, McCain, Collins, Corker, and Murkowski would have supported removing the filibuster to, for example, replace RBG with William Pryor. They might have, but it was a question in my mind that (thankfully) will not have to be answered now.
That not a single one voted to keep the filibuster demonstrates to me that there was no reasonable doubt.
---
### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2017, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/697 "2017-04-06T16:52:20Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#):
>
> Your post seems to suggest you think this is so self-evidently wrong that it doesn’t even merit explanation of why it’s wrong. I don’t think that’s the case.
My explanation is: there is nothing in Bork’s record that says he favors rogue police breaking down citizens’ doors in raids.
---
### Author:  [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/698 "2017-04-06T16:53:36Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> _sigh_
>
> This is not actually a good step.
>
> But at least it will have a good short-term result.
>
> Two, if you count irritating some of the most irritating people.
I agree. A better long-term result would have been if both sides reserved the filibuster for extraordinary circumstances and it were left intact.
---
### Author:  [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/699 "2017-04-06T16:53:58Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> My explanation is: there is nothing in Bork’s record that says he favors rogue police breaking down citizens’ doors in raids.
Probably depends on the meaning of “rogue police”. I’d characterize Bull Connor (and his deputies) as “rogue police”, even if what they did was strictly legal at the time, for example.
---
### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2017, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/700 "2017-04-06T16:55:48Z")
And it’s done.
Next up: the next vacancy, which should be a piece of cake.
C’mon, Breyer. Work on your golf game, grow some roses. Relax, bud. You’ve earned it.
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