Jim Bourg/ZUMA
“AMK” is Anthony McLeod Kennedy,1 the famous swing justice of the current Supreme Court lineup. And sure, this is a perfectly serviceable argument. If it floats your boat, go with it.
My own argument is a little different: Piss off, Republicans. You can keep whining about the 30-year-old rejection of Robert Bork forever—and I’m sure you will—but he got hearings and a fair vote. He was voted down because he was too extreme, and the next judge nominated by Reagan was approved 97-0 by a Democratic Senate. That was during an election year, by the way. You guys, by contrast, refused to even consider Merrick Garland because you didn’t want anyone nominated by Barack Obama to serve on the court. Just like you didn’t want anyone nominated by Barack Obama to serve on the Federal Circuit Court, so you filibustered all of his nominees.
You can make up all the ridiculous “traditions” you want, but everyone knows what you did. And no party with even a pretense of a spine would let you get away with it. So of course Democrats are going to filibuster Gorsuch and make you go nuclear. You’re going to do it anyway the first time you need to, and everyone knows it. So what’s the point of putting it off?
That’s it. That’s the only reason anyone needs. You took nuclear to the next level already, and it would be craven for Democrats to shrug and let you get away with it. You made this bed, now it’s yours to lie in.
1Yes, I had to look up his middle name.
