On Wednesday March 4, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., made an appearance at a pro-choice rally in D.C. outside the Supreme Court where a controversial case on Louisiana abortion law was being heard.
In an attempt to rally the crowd, Schumer made threatening comments against sitting Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch by saying, “[Gorsuch and Kavanaugh] you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price” and “you won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.” Kavanaugh and Gorsuch were both appointed to the Supreme Court by President Trump.
Schumer’s comments are unacceptable for a plethora of reasons.
First, the Supreme Court is not meant to be a completely politically charged entity. Although it is inevitably tied to political beliefs, it was created strictly to interpret the law, not to be the mouthpiece of a political agenda. For Schumer to personally attack two of our justices for their qualified thoughts on abortion law for political attention is to debase the prestige of the Supreme Court as a whole.
Second, this type of threatening rally-cry is horribly ironic coming from the Minority Leader. Schumer has criticized President Trump numerous times for crass wording and behavior. This type of language not only causes Schumer to appear hypocritical but paints the Democratic party as intolerant of those who may disagree with them. The attack from Schumer, a prestigious representative of the party who preaches tolerance, is yet another example of the ever-worsening lack of couth we see in American politics today.
But perhaps this outburst is a symptom of a larger, lingering frustration for Democrats regarding federal courts. Democrats in the Senate during the Obama administration, who held the majority at the time, attempted to confirm many of Obama’s federal court appointments, only to have votes stalled by filibustering Republicans.
With growing frustration over the continuous blockage of the appointments, then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-N.V., invoked the nuclear option, changing the Senate rules to only needing a simple majority vote to confirm federal judges (excluding Supreme Court appointments).
That 2013 rule change made by the Democrats has now led to massive success for President Trump’s federal court appointments. Since 2017, the Republican-controlled Senate led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-K.Y., has already confirmed 193 of President Trump’s judicial nominations to federal courts.
Of course, this frustration in no way justifies Schumer’s threatening comments against Kavanaugh and Gorsuch. Regardless of if he meant to directly threaten the justices or not, the use of violent language always has the potential to lead to violent actions. Perhaps Schumer could have avoided this mess had he just stayed in the Capitol, meeting with constituents and working on legislation; after all, the Senate was in session that day. Maybe he should just stick to doing his job.
Claire Watts is a senior political science major at Asbury. She spent the 2019 fall semester in Washington, D.C. interning at a U.S. Senate office.
The Asbury Collegian is an Asbury University publication. The paper is staffed entirely by Asbury students who seek to write on topics of interest to the University and the surrounding community.
Sen. Schumer makes unacceptable comments against Supreme Court Justices
By Claire Watts, Contributing Opinion
On Wednesday March 4, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., made an appearance at a pro-choice rally in D.C. outside the Supreme Court where a controversial case on Louisiana abortion law was being heard.
In an attempt to rally the crowd, Schumer made threatening comments against sitting Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch by saying, “[Gorsuch and Kavanaugh] you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price” and “you won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.” Kavanaugh and Gorsuch were both appointed to the Supreme Court by President Trump.
Schumer’s comments are unacceptable for a plethora of reasons.
First, the Supreme Court is not meant to be a completely politically charged entity. Although it is inevitably tied to political beliefs, it was created strictly to interpret the law, not to be the mouthpiece of a political agenda. For Schumer to personally attack two of our justices for their qualified thoughts on abortion law for political attention is to debase the prestige of the Supreme Court as a whole.
Second, this type of threatening rally-cry is horribly ironic coming from the Minority Leader. Schumer has criticized President Trump numerous times for crass wording and behavior. This type of language not only causes Schumer to appear hypocritical but paints the Democratic party as intolerant of those who may disagree with them. The attack from Schumer, a prestigious representative of the party who preaches tolerance, is yet another example of the ever-worsening lack of couth we see in American politics today.
But perhaps this outburst is a symptom of a larger, lingering frustration for Democrats regarding federal courts. Democrats in the Senate during the Obama administration, who held the majority at the time, attempted to confirm many of Obama’s federal court appointments, only to have votes stalled by filibustering Republicans.
With growing frustration over the continuous blockage of the appointments, then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-N.V., invoked the nuclear option, changing the Senate rules to only needing a simple majority vote to confirm federal judges (excluding Supreme Court appointments).
That 2013 rule change made by the Democrats has now led to massive success for President Trump’s federal court appointments. Since 2017, the Republican-controlled Senate led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-K.Y., has already confirmed 193 of President Trump’s judicial nominations to federal courts.
Of course, this frustration in no way justifies Schumer’s threatening comments against Kavanaugh and Gorsuch. Regardless of if he meant to directly threaten the justices or not, the use of violent language always has the potential to lead to violent actions. Perhaps Schumer could have avoided this mess had he just stayed in the Capitol, meeting with constituents and working on legislation; after all, the Senate was in session that day. Maybe he should just stick to doing his job.