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Senate’s use of nuclear option for Gorsuch has damaged our democracy

Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, while testifying on the third day of his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., on March 22, 2017.
Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, while testifying on the third day of his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., on March 22, 2017. ERIC THAYER New York Times file

Perhaps it was inevitable, but still I was disheartened by Friday’s confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Your picture of a grinning, thumbs-up Mitch McConnell above the story on the Senate rule change from 60 votes to a simple majority for confirmation was disturbing. If that’s what they had to do to get their man through — after blatantly ignoring their duty to hold hearings on Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, for nearly a year — then Gorsuch’s legitimacy, and thus the legitimacy of the entire court, must be called into question.

Only a deeply unprincipled individual would accept such a tainted seat. Trump’s call for Senate Republicans to “go nuclear” on this, and McConnell’s eagerness to do so, has seriously damaged our democracy by corrupting the one branch of government that is supposed to rise above such petty partisan wrangling.

Diane W. Mayfield, Templeton

This story was originally published April 12, 2017 at 7:07 PM with the headline "Senate’s use of nuclear option for Gorsuch has damaged our democracy."

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