# Schumer Urges Filibuster to Block Gorsuch Confirmation **URL:** \ **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:** 12\ **Page:** 43
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/841 "2017-04-08T13:44:50Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > You appear to think that a cite is a cite – any link to any HTML page on the internet is a cite. Is that what you’re saying? That _does_ seem to be becoming more common around here. I just wish it wasn’t in Great Debates/Elections. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/842 "2017-04-08T14:00:15Z")
Sure. Hey, by the way, did you know that under directions from Hillary, Vince Foster’s body was moved to the park so the investigation wouldn’t be under the jurisdiction of Washington, D.C., police, but instead in the hands of the U.S. Park authorities? Yup: [I have a RTFirefly-level-cite](http://radaronline.com/celebrity-news/hillary-clinton-vince-foster-death-fbi-secret-service-documents-truth-white-house-gun-death/): > [@](#): > > Then, Morrow claimed, under directions from Hillary, Foster’s body was moved to the park so the investigation wouldn’t be under the jurisdiction of Washington, D.C., police, but instead in the hands of the U.S. Park authorities. According to Morrow, Hillary personally orchestrated the plot to smuggle Foster’s 6-foot-4 200-pound corpse into a waiting government car. A cite is a cite, amiright amiright? Or maybe RTFirefly will fluidly revise his standard in this instance. That would be my bet. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/843 "2017-04-08T14:17:07Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > A cite is a cite, amiright amiright? And no cite is no cite. Why should I provide any cite at all, when you won’t provide any to support your claims? Your standards apparently shift radically to suit the needs of the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/844 "2017-04-08T14:45:05Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > And no cite is no cite. Why should I provide any cite at all, when you won’t provide any to support your claims? Your standards apparently shift radically to suit the needs of the moment. I gave you a cite, above. Hey, in other news, did you know that Democrats bear all the blame for the recent filibuster events. In fact, many Democratic senators have announced that the Constitution itself is a dangerous document, and they are committed to weakening it and ultimately destroying it. “We began our work in 1987 by refusing to confirm Robert Bork,” they announced in unison, “and we have continued our work to the present day.” [Cite.](http://avogadro.bravesites.com/) ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/845 "2017-04-10T17:16:20Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > …There’s your ‘gentleman’s agreement’ that had been intact for my entire lifetime, up to the Obama presidency: that Presidents get to fill vacancies in the Federal courts that arise during their terms, regardless of which party controls the Senate. The Senate may reject particular nominees for specific reasons, but other than that, the President’s nominees become judges and Justices. > > From almost the beginning of Obama’s Presidency, the Republicans abandoned that agreement, first in subtle ways (e.g. by slow-walking every nomination, taking up the 30 hours of post-cloture debate even on nominees approved unanimously), then in more blatant ways, like wholesale filibustering. > > Saying that _Reid_ broke the gentleman’s agreement is being completely and totally disingenuous. It was already broken, spindled, mutilated, and eaten and upchucked by coyotes, before Reid gave up and exercised the ‘nuclear option’ in 2013. (post shortened, underline added) The President doesn’t “fill” vacancies in the federal courts simply by declaring it a done deal. The President “nominates” judges, which are then approved by the U.S. Senate. There has never been an agreement that U.S. Senators abandon their responsibility to confirm federal judges. Slow-walking can be a part of the process. Filibustering had long been a part of the process until that mean, little shit Hairy Reid, as well as other Democrats, declared it dead/nuked for all lesser federal judges. Which leaves the question - why did Reid and Co. believe that the filibuster was still a useful tool for the selection of Supreme Court Justices? Did Reid believe that the filibuster was a useful tool for important federal judgeships, but your average federal judgeship simply didn’t qualify? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/846 "2017-04-10T21:31:48Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > There’s your ‘gentleman’s agreement’ that had been intact for my entire lifetime, up to the Obama presidency: that Presidents get to fill vacancies in the Federal courts that arise during their terms, regardless of which party controls the Senate. And the stonewalling that the Democrats did for Bush’s nominees? Were you not alive during that period? Did you die? Is it your lich now typing away, an undead creature in a grotesque parody of life? Must we summon a high-level cleric who can cast a Banish Lich spell? ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/847 "2017-04-10T21:35:34Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > And the stonewalling that the Democrats did for Bush’s nominees? Which of Bush’s nominees did the Democrats refuse to even hold a hearing? :dubious: > [@](#): > > Were you not alive during that period? Did you die? Is it your lich now typing away, an undead creature in a grotesque parody of life? Must we summon a high-level cleric who can cast a Banish Lich spell? Sarcasm is the sour cream of wit, chum. Best in small doses. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/848 "2017-04-10T21:44:45Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Which of Bush’s nominees did the Democrats refuse to even hold a hearing? :dubious: The comment was about stonewalling. And that would include Miguel Estrada. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/849 "2017-04-10T22:07:48Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > The comment was about stonewalling. And that would include Miguel Estrada. Estrada had no judicial experience on local, state OR federal level. He had no academic writings for the Senate to review. He said he “never thought about Roe vs. Wade” even when he was a SCOTUS clerk when Papa Bush’s administration had asked the Court to reconsider it. Pardon me, but that’s decidedly shady. If “stonewalling” means “rejecting a nominee because of egregious gaps in experience and questionable memory” then buy me the t-shirt, baby. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/850 "2017-04-10T22:26:44Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > If “stonewalling” means “rejecting a nominee because of egregious gaps in experience and questionable memory” then buy me the t-shirt, baby. I think stonewalling can be many things, but refusing to hold a vote is assuredly included. Let me know your t-shirt size, and I’ll fail to send you one 🙂 Charles Pickering and Carolyn Kuhl were also stonewalled. The point is that the gentlemen’s agreement that RTFirefly refers to was set aside long before. The Republicans were dealt a better hand, or simply played the game better, or both. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/851 "2017-04-10T22:40:17Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Which of Bush’s nominees did the Democrats refuse to even hold a hearing? :dubious: I don’t agree that holding a hearing is any particular evidence against stonewalling. Dubious. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845/852 "2017-04-21T17:52:12Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > 95% of the base probably\* never heard of him before\* last year let alone found him acceptable. emphasis added I disagree. I knew who he was off the top of my head from the Oklahoma City bombing trial. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schumer-urges-filibuster-to-block-gorsuch-confirmation/782845.md?page=42)