Sen. Claire McCaskill doesn’t want to talk.
After Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement, the Missouri Democrat thanked the justice for his service then added that “it’s premature to discuss his replacement until one has been nominated.”
That silence is understandable but ultimately unnecessary. Odds are good that President Trump’s second nominee will have a lot in common with his first, and we already know how McCaskill feels about Judge Neil Gorsuch. She wrote it all down.
McCaskill sent out almost a dozen emails after Gorsuch’s confirmation to fundraise off of her opposition to the justice. Rereading them now, McCaskill sounds like a member of the #Resistance.
The day before the confirmation vote, the senator dismissed Gorsuch as a corporatist and accused Republicans of breaking the rules to get him to the court.
“Senate Republicans just pulled a reckless, partisan stunt to force through Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation,” McCaskill wrote. The nominee was unmistakable because of his “miles-long record of putting corporations ahead of people.”
And on the day of the confirmation vote, the senator didn’t budge. After a failed filibuster attempt, McCaskill voted no and then proceeded to brag about it.
“It’s no secret. Claire was a top target for the far-right in their attempts to ensure Neil Gorsuch would be confirmed to the Supreme Court,” he campaign wrote in an email. “Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent trying to pressure her to support their nominee. But Claire stood her ground and voted her conscience.”
Some senators would be content to lick their wounds and call it a day, especially Democrats in red states. Not McCaskill. In email after email asking for cash, the senator pointed out that her opposition to Gorsuch made her extremely vulnerable.
With barely any variation, she repeated the same line at least six different times: “I’m in the Senate to fight for working families, not to be a pawn for an agenda that puts ordinary Americans under the boot of corporations. That’s why right-wing groups have already launched seven ad buys to defeat me and flip our seat in Missouri.”
All of this puts McCaskill in a tough spot. Her Republican opponent, Josh Hawley, has already challenged her to defend her opposition to Gorsuch in a debate over the Supreme Court. It’s unlikely she will receive any sympathetic votes from Republicans if she votes for Trump’s second nominee. And her base would throw a fit if McCaskill helped confirm the deciding vote against Roe v. Wade. It would be political suicide.
In the coming weeks then, McCaskill will be silent. But if the next nominee is anything like Gorsuch, at least we already know how she feels.
