Why Are Democrats Holding Back on Gorsuch?
The Senate kicks off its formal vetting process of President Trump’s Supreme Court pick in public view on Monday with a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of conservative judge Neil Gorsuch to the high court. That will mark a departure from the treatment that Merrick Garland, former President Obama’s nominee to fill the same Supreme Court seat, faced in Congress last year when Senate Republicans broke with tradition by refusing to hold even a single hearing to consider the nomination.
Even if Democrats wanted to, the party can’t mount the same kind of all-out opposition to Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. The most glaring reason is that Democrats don’t control the Senate, and Republicans have the hearing agenda. Still, Democrats could from left-leaning advocacy groups as a result.
