Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) meets with Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch February 1, 2017 at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
McConnell Is Happy About Tax Cuts, But Even Happier About Stuffing Judiciary With Right-Wingers
The Senate Majority Leader loves giving tax cuts to the rich, but not as much as he loves stacking the courts with right-wing extremists
Even while riding the high of his party's dead-of-night tax victory, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) still wouldn't call the GOP's $1.5 trillion "gift to the rich" the crowning achievement of his career. That honor, McConnell told Bloomberg in an interview, remains with "Neil Gorsuch and the changes we're making in the circuit courts."
"But this would be a really close second," McConnell said, referring to the tax legislation.
Matt Fuller, politics reporter for the Huffington Post, helpfully translated McConnell's remarks:
This "achievement" has its origins in 2016, when McConnell refused to even consider Merrick Garland, former President Barack Obama's selection to replace the deceased Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
Having successfully deprived Obama of a Supreme Court pick--a move critics denounced as outright "theft"--earlier this year McConnell deployed the so-called "nuclear option" to ram President Donald Trump's nominee, Neil Gorsuch, through a Democratic filibuster and ensure that Democrats could not block future nominees.
Now that the Supreme Court seat he kept vacant is securely in Republican control, McConnell has turned his attention to confirming Trump's lower court nominees--and he's moving at a breakneck pace.
Last week, Senate Republicans "confirmed President Donald Trump's twelfth federal appeals court nominee, setting a record for the most circuit court picks confirmed in a president's first year," reports Axios's Khorri Atkinson.
While the McConnell's effort to stack the judiciary with right-wing extremists who lack experience and basic legal knowledge often flies under the radar of the day-to-day chaos of the Trump presidency, it could have an impact decades down the line--even if the GOP is voted out of office.
"The federal courts carry significant weight in almost every area of policy: gun rights, executive power, LGBT rights, freedom of religion, etc, and have blocked multiple Trump initiatives in his first year," Atkinson concludes. "Trump's picks of young, conservative judges for the lifetime appointments will far outlast his presidency."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Even while riding the high of his party's dead-of-night tax victory, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) still wouldn't call the GOP's $1.5 trillion "gift to the rich" the crowning achievement of his career. That honor, McConnell told Bloomberg in an interview, remains with "Neil Gorsuch and the changes we're making in the circuit courts."
"But this would be a really close second," McConnell said, referring to the tax legislation.
Matt Fuller, politics reporter for the Huffington Post, helpfully translated McConnell's remarks:
This "achievement" has its origins in 2016, when McConnell refused to even consider Merrick Garland, former President Barack Obama's selection to replace the deceased Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
Having successfully deprived Obama of a Supreme Court pick--a move critics denounced as outright "theft"--earlier this year McConnell deployed the so-called "nuclear option" to ram President Donald Trump's nominee, Neil Gorsuch, through a Democratic filibuster and ensure that Democrats could not block future nominees.
Now that the Supreme Court seat he kept vacant is securely in Republican control, McConnell has turned his attention to confirming Trump's lower court nominees--and he's moving at a breakneck pace.
Last week, Senate Republicans "confirmed President Donald Trump's twelfth federal appeals court nominee, setting a record for the most circuit court picks confirmed in a president's first year," reports Axios's Khorri Atkinson.
While the McConnell's effort to stack the judiciary with right-wing extremists who lack experience and basic legal knowledge often flies under the radar of the day-to-day chaos of the Trump presidency, it could have an impact decades down the line--even if the GOP is voted out of office.
"The federal courts carry significant weight in almost every area of policy: gun rights, executive power, LGBT rights, freedom of religion, etc, and have blocked multiple Trump initiatives in his first year," Atkinson concludes. "Trump's picks of young, conservative judges for the lifetime appointments will far outlast his presidency."
Even while riding the high of his party's dead-of-night tax victory, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) still wouldn't call the GOP's $1.5 trillion "gift to the rich" the crowning achievement of his career. That honor, McConnell told Bloomberg in an interview, remains with "Neil Gorsuch and the changes we're making in the circuit courts."
"But this would be a really close second," McConnell said, referring to the tax legislation.
Matt Fuller, politics reporter for the Huffington Post, helpfully translated McConnell's remarks:
This "achievement" has its origins in 2016, when McConnell refused to even consider Merrick Garland, former President Barack Obama's selection to replace the deceased Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
Having successfully deprived Obama of a Supreme Court pick--a move critics denounced as outright "theft"--earlier this year McConnell deployed the so-called "nuclear option" to ram President Donald Trump's nominee, Neil Gorsuch, through a Democratic filibuster and ensure that Democrats could not block future nominees.
Now that the Supreme Court seat he kept vacant is securely in Republican control, McConnell has turned his attention to confirming Trump's lower court nominees--and he's moving at a breakneck pace.
Last week, Senate Republicans "confirmed President Donald Trump's twelfth federal appeals court nominee, setting a record for the most circuit court picks confirmed in a president's first year," reports Axios's Khorri Atkinson.
While the McConnell's effort to stack the judiciary with right-wing extremists who lack experience and basic legal knowledge often flies under the radar of the day-to-day chaos of the Trump presidency, it could have an impact decades down the line--even if the GOP is voted out of office.
"The federal courts carry significant weight in almost every area of policy: gun rights, executive power, LGBT rights, freedom of religion, etc, and have blocked multiple Trump initiatives in his first year," Atkinson concludes. "Trump's picks of young, conservative judges for the lifetime appointments will far outlast his presidency."