The head of the Democratic National Committee shared some harsh words for President Trump and his pick to fill the “stolen” Supreme Court seat at a DNC event in Detroit, Mich., on Saturday.
Speaking ahead of a forum for the DNC chair candidates, interim Chair Donna Brazile criticized Neil Gorsuch, saying the president nominated someone “more extreme” than Antonin Scalia to fill the opening left in the Supreme Court after the conservative justice’s passing last year.
She called it “the stolen Supreme Court seat,” a reference to the Senate Republicans’ refusal to hold a confirmation hearing for Obama’s pick to take Scalia’s place, Judge Merrick Garland, during an election year that would choose a new chief executive.
Several Senate Democrats, including Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., have also rallied behind the notion that the vacancy left by Scalia is a “stolen seat” and oppose the Gorsuch nomination.
It will be an uphill battle for Democrats to stop Republicans from confirming Gorsuch. As it stands the confirmation is subject to a 60-vote threshold. However, should Democrats attempt to filibuster the nomination, Republicans could turn to the “nuclear option,” a parliamentary procedure that would allow the 52-member Republican majority to pass Gorsuch with just 51 votes.
However, some Democrats, like West Virginia’s Sen. Joe Manchin, have openly said they are willing to give Gorsuch a chance in the confirmation process. At least seven Senate Democrats have indicated they are willing to give Gorsuch a confirmation hearing and a vote, which would put a united Republican front just one vote shy of a filibuster-busting 60 votes.
Brazile added that Gorsuch is only 49 years old and warned, “he could be on the court for decades.”
After the first two weeks of the Trump presidency, “the American people are hungrier than ever” for the rhetoric and ideas espoused by Democrats, Brazile said.
