The senate just used the nuclear option. Here's why there'll be hell to pay later

Senate Republicans have approved a change to their rules for confirming Supreme Court justices. Until now, those rules required 60 senators to vote in favor on a new justice. The change allows a simple majority to be sufficient. Such a change has significant ramifications for the future.

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Mitch McConnell may enjoy a short term victory now, but what will happen later if the White House and Senate fall into liberal hands?

Highlights

By Marshall Connolly (CALIFORNIA NETWORK)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
4/6/2017 (7 years ago)

Published in Politics & Policy

Keywords: Senate, nuclear option, Neil Gorsuch

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) -  As per parliamentary procedure, the Senate has required 60 votes in favor of a new Supreme Court justice to seat the justice. Now, the rule change requires only a simple majority.

The old rules ensured and that new justice was always moderate enough to capture some support from the other side. Now, this requirement is diminished. If the party in control of the White House is also in control of the senate, they will be able to approve all of their nominations without any need to cater to moderates of the other side.

The rule change means the nomination of Neil Gorsuch will be approved. Democrats are opposed to his appointment because he is a staunch conservative on pro-life and the First Amendment. He is a nearly perfect fit for Antonin Scalia, whose seat he is taking. It seems that both Scalia and Gorsuch have the same opinions on most issues.

But Gorsuch isn't the problem. The problem is what happens when a White House is able to appoint extreme justices to the Supreme Court without any attempt to compromise?

Our government needs to operate, but increasing polarization in both the House and Senate has caused gridlock. Trade bills and pay raises get passed fairly quickly, but other bills, such as healthcare reform, tax reforms and others demanded by the public, often stall and die.

The ability for any White House to appoint any justice without need to compromise will result in a sharply divided court. Meanwhile, the side with a simple majority will be tempted to abuse it, and will not feel any compulsion to negotiate with the other side. This could cause our government to become extremely conservative, or extremely liberal.

The Founding Fathers of our nation recognized that compromise was key to peaceful coexistence. People are always going to have a diversity of views. There will always be liberals and conservatives. The need to compromise has always ensured that moderate proposals pass, while extreme ideas are dropped.

The nuclear option has been used previously, but to seat cabinet members, not Supreme Court justices. Conservatives will welcome the promotion of Neil Gorsuch, but they might not like what happens later.

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