In Judge Neil Gorsuch Fat Tony Lives, Only in a More Distinguished Appearing Package

When Antonin Scalia breathed his last I was so elated I wrote Who Says We Can’t Speak Ill of  the Dead? Antonin Scalia Was a Horror as a Judge.  In that piece I provided much background evidence on why I felt so good about Scalia’s departure.  However, the only quote I need to illustrate this horrible man’s blithe inhumanity is:  “Justice Antonin Scalia “defended his  pro-death penalty stance by claiming that the Bible forgives those who wrongly apply the death penalty to innocent persons on the grounds that the wrongly convicted will have an opportunity to set the record straight in the courthouse of the afterlife.” here.  This blindly pious,  religious fanatic displayed in that defense that he was incapable of feeling empathy for those wrongly murdered by the State, nor for their grieving families.  What the scabrous Scalia also showed in that statement was that he was a person capable of rationalizing any egregious behavior on his part by bending logic to suit his prejudices.

While it can be noted that Scalia was but one of five reactionary Supreme Court Justices making their own version of Law,  while pretending it was merely a return to Constitutional Originalism,  he was by acknowledgement the most erudite mind and skilled writer.  In the name of this spurious doctrine of Constitutional exegesis,  Scalia and his gang gave us the George W. Bush Presidency;  unlimited gun rights; dismantling of Constitutional protections from law enforcement overreach and disabling government’s ability to rein in political campaign contributions.  The latter relying on the preposterous notion of ”corporate person-hood”.

My elation upon the passing of Antonin Scalia dampened some months later when President Obama nominated Merrick Garland, a temperate Judicial Centrist to the Supreme Court.  This  was no doubt seen as a clever stratagem by the Obama team,  since Garland had previously won praise from Republican Senators like Orrin Hatch and Mitch McConnell.  Like many other Obama team strategies it came to naught because when it comes to politics, the Republican leadership carry Glock 9mm Automatics and the Democrats Swiss Army knives.  Destroying the Obama strategy the Senate Republicans simply used the unprecedented procedure of refusing to consider Obama’s  Supreme Court Nomination.  Now we see that this Republican ruse of waiting for a new President paid off and our puppet President made his SCOTUS nomination known,  in Prime Time on all the Broadcast networks.

On superficial impressions Judge Neil Gorsuch is a pleasantly distinguished looking man, who could have come out of Hollywood Central Casting to play a Judge.  He speaks nicely and has a pleasant affect and rich speaking voice.  He is certainly a scholar of Ivy League proportions boasting Georgetown Prep, Columbia, Harvard and even Oxford.  Gorsuch was even a Harvard Law classmate of Barack Obama.  Neil Gorsuch clerked for two SCOTUS Justices and did a stint in private law practice with an high powered law firm. He is currently a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.  This person no doubt has all of the superficial qualifications to be a SCOTUS Justice and yet……..

”Gorsuch has opined that giving money to politicians while running campaigns is a “fundamental right” that should be afforded the highest standard of constitutional protection, known as strict scrutiny.”^[29]

”Gorsuch advocates a broad definition of religious freedom and sided with Christian employers and religious organizations…..In the Hobby Lobby case, Gorsuch held that the requirement in the Affordable Care Act that employers provide insurance coverage for contraceptives without a co-pay violated the rights of those employers that object to use of contraceptives on religious grounds.”^[30]

In short, Gorsuch is a Judge in the mold of Antonin Scalia,  who he is said to idolize. Like Scalia, Gorsuch ”is a proponent of originalism, the idea that the Constitution should be interpreted as perceived at the time of enactment, and of textualism, the idea that statutes should be interpreted literally, without considering the legislative history and underlying purpose of the law.”^[5][6][7]

Neil Gorsuch is a man coming from a wealthy and privileged background.  His mother,  Anne Gorsuch Burford was a lifelong,  Ultra Right Wing Republican activist who when in the Colorado Legislature  ”was considered by some to be a member of the “House Crazies,” a group of “conservative lawmakers intent on permanently changing government.”^[4] Anne Gorsuch serve a tempestuous 22 months as Ronald Reagan’s  EPA Administrator and was forced to resign due to various scandals and constant battling with Congress.

Here’s the thing though.  Barack Obama’s  nomination of Centrist Judge Merrick Garland was a reasonable attempt to compromise with the Republican Senate, which rejected it and rejected Obama’s right to even nominate a SCOTUS Justice.  The Republican attitude is that the majority of SCOTUS Justices should ”belong” to them and create a permanent reactionary conservative Court majority.  While there is no historical basis for this precedent,  Republicans are willing to use any means to enforce it.  This attitude has become so pervasive that in the Cable News lead-up to Trump’s  prime-time propaganda exploit a few network pundits were actually stating that this appointment was nothing for Democrats to worry about because it was a return to the ”status quo”.  The ”status quo” these simple fools were referring to was a 5 to 4 majority of reactionary Conservatives on SCOTUS.

While the probability is that if Democrats in the Senate filibuster the nomination,  Republi cans will exercise the  ” dreaded”  Nuclear Option and override the Democrats, I say ”bring it on”.  This SCOTUS seat was stolen from the Democrats in a Republican power play.  The rule requiring a 60 vote super majority was put into place as a Senate Rule to avoid individual responsibility.  It is time that we of the Left realize that the One Percent running this country are at war with us and if we lose most Americans will become peons of the oligarchy.  It is time that the Left starts bring Thompson Machine Guns to this political gunfight for the soul of this Nation.  Any Democratic Senator who votes for Gorsuch, should be shunned and opposed in their next election, because they are not allies, merely self-interested politicians.    

 

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