Remember when the nation thought Sen. Tim Kaine was going to be our cool new stepdad as vice president? Turns out, you never know what you’ll get from a second parent. Now back in the Senate, Hillary Clinton’s old running mate completely went back on his word.
On the campaign trail last October, Kaine threatened — promised even — to nuke the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations if Republicans wouldn’t cooperate on President Hillary Clinton’s nominees. But today Kaine announced that he will not only oppose Judge Neil Gorsuch, he’ll vote against cloture on Trump’s pick.
Translated from legislative parlance that means Kaine’s preparing to do exactly what he promised he would prevent. He’s going to join in a Democratic filibuster. Did he forget that the country knows how to Internet?
Flashback to that October interview with the Huffington Post. When Republicans were wondering aloud about a filibuster, Kaine condemned that obstruction as legislative anarchy. “If these guys think they’re going to stonewall the filing of that vacancy,” Kaine said, “then a Democratic Senate majority will say, ‘We’re not going to let you thwart the law.'”
Taking a hard edge, Kaine promised that Democrats would “change the Senate rules to uphold that law that the court will be nine members.”
Of course, Kaine never got that chance. Republicans won the White House and kept the Senate, ensuring Kaine would return to the upper chamber as a member of the minority. But other than that, nothing’s different except the political circumstances. Out of power, Kaine has changed his mind on what he once described as lawless stonewalling.
What’s his excuse? According to a prepared statement, Kaine says he can’t support Gorsuch’s because of the judge’s supposed “selective activism in restricting women’s rights.” But even setting aside the fact that the Trump nominee said Roe v. Wade was settled law, that decision remains nakedly partisan.
After all, Gorsuch is about the best worst thing that’s happened to Kaine’s Democrats since the election. Sure, there’s not much in the judge’s judicial philosophy to comfort the left. But for the most part, Gorsuch is the rough equivalent of a copied and pasted Antonin Scalia. In other words, there’s little in his record to suggest he would dramatically upset the Supreme Court status quo.
Still, Democrats are refusing to let the justice advance. And sadly, the man who would’ve been America’s stepdad is encouraging the tantrum.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
