Discussion: Sen. Coons: GOP Will 'Almost Certainly' Go Nuclear If Dems Filibuster Gorsuch

Call Right Now! Resist!

Senator Coons Contact Information:

1105 N. Market St.
Suite 100
Wilmington, DE 19801-1233
Phone: (302) 573-6345

500 W. Loockerman St.
Suite 450
Dover, DE 19904
Phone: (302)736-5601
Toll-Free (877) 668-3368

127A Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone:(202) 224-5042

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I wish people would stop talking about “the treatment of Merrick Garland.” I don’t care about “the treatment of Merrick Garland,” but I do pointedly care about the rule of law. Every elected Republican who opposed not the nomination, but the nomination process itself, just made up a non-existent, non-Constitutional ‘rule’ (that they would never apply to a Republican President) for purely partisan gain.

I say that again because it bears repeating: they didn’t oppose the nomination of Merrick Garland, they opposed the nomination process itself. They didn’t ‘mistreat’ Merrick Garland, they broke their own oaths to uphold the Constitution. And now here we are, a year later, pretending that that didn’t happen. Every news outlet covering this story just glosses over that fact. We’re all proceeding as if this is normal and fine.

If anyone thinks that breaking norms is some new thing with Mr. Trump, no, conservative Republicans have been breaking norms for years now. The current so-called President is just taking what they started and running with it.

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Well said. Any Dem who doesn’t repeat “Stolen Supreme Court Seat” over and over when on television is blowing it.

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Force their hand. They’ll just go nuclear next time anyway. If Schumer can’t get the Dems united around this he has to go.

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To which I reply “who cares”? Anyone with half a brain knows that they would do this in any case. The GOP has demonstrated time and time again that they have no respect for rules or precedent, only that which advances their cause. I will be sad if/when Gorsuch is seated, because I truly believe he should not be, but it’s in the cards. The nomination was stolen from President Obama in a typically underhanded and disgraceful fashion. Short of an actual Constitutional crisis, there is no way to stop Gorsuch. Sadly, if only a few Republican Senators showed some spine and moral courage, confirmation could be denied, but that’s not going to happen either. We do indeed live in interesting times.

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Yes, Chris. Before the whole Trump Family is thrown in jail for treason, lets get his pick for SCOTUS seated.

I really didn’t need to hear this shit today.

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I would really, really appreciate it if somebody would explain the logic of never using a filibuster because it is feared that the filibuster will be terminated. It’s like never using your car because you fear losing your parking spot.
Edit: note, too, that there is no undertaking from the Reps that they will either (1) apply the McConnell rule in relation to any vacancy arising in the last year of the Trump administration; or (2) not go nuclear in the event of the Ds using the filibuster to block the next nominee for the SC. In the absences of those undertakings (which would be valueless in any case), and in view of the overwhelming evidence that the R majority will do whatever it takes to steal the SC, including the Garland stunt, the preservation of the filibuster makes zero sense.

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Coons is Charlie Brown in the Lucy and the Football sketch. Coons is sure that the next time the Democrats will filibuster and not be deterred by GzoP threats of going nuclear. When the Democrats back down from a filibuster everytime the Republicans threaten to go nuclear, the net effect is that the Republicans get to appoint Supreme Court Justices with 51 votes while the Democrats are required to have 60.

Further, recent election results notwithstanding, the Republicans have far more to lose with the demise of the filibuster in the long run than do the Democrats.

Coons, get a spine!

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That’s why they’ve announced that they’re filibustering Gorsuch’s nomination.

When they don’t get the 60 votes that Schumer and others have told them they must get, the Senate GOP will threaten to kill the filibuster.
Then when they lose the Senate next year, the Repubs will be out in the cold for sure.

So it’s not in McConnell’s best interest to go nuclear—which is why he’ll go nuclear. They’re starting to panic, and that means they’ll make more big mistakes in search of short-term gain at the expense of their long-term goals.

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I’ve never quite understood the point of having a filibuster, if you never use it out of fear the other side would then take it way.

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What’s the alternative, Senator Coons? Nothing, nada, zip…

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Made the call.

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Don’t forget to add Putin’s Russia to the “enemies of democracy” side of the ledger.

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Nuke it. Filibuster you can’t use and keep has already ceases to exist effectively. What does your show of cooperation in this situation accomplish? Nothing.

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“Almost certainly” is just so certain.

By seating Gorsuch, it rewards bad behaviour. Either party (but most certainly the Rethugs) will use Merrick Garland’s treatment as precedent.

EDIT TO ADD: I’ve already contacted Gillibrand and Schumer, my sens.

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Did they take your call or your message if you are not a resident of DE? Anyone can call but best if you are a resident of DE for them to actually care.

The Senate Dems announce early last week that they’re filibustering the Gorsuch nomination.

While the ideal is for DE residents to call, if not, one push-back might be something along these lines:

“Sen. Coons serves on the Senate Judiciary Cmte., and therefore has an obligation to look out for the interests of all American citizens, especially given the importance of this stolen SC seat. Therefore, I expect him to hold firm for a nominee who can meet the 60 vote threshold, the same threshold previous SCt nominees have been expected to meet.”

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Yes, and Coons is talking about the GOP going nuke upon their filibustering.

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