Why moderate Democrats might risk killing the filibuster to block Neil Gorsuch

Two words: Merrick Garland

"Remember Merrick Garland"
(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

On Tuesday night, in a reality TV–flavored unveiling ceremony, President Trump handed the red judicial rose (figuratively speaking) to federal appellate Judge Neil Gorsuch, his choice to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated last year with the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.

Gorsuch, 49, has all the right credentials for the job — Columbia and Harvard Law, a mother who worked in the Reagan administration, a Supreme Court clerkship under his belt, and a seat on the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Colorado. He's a born Westerner and a Protestant vying for a seat on a high court full of coastal Catholic and Jewish jurists. Democratic leaders are voicing their opposition to Gorsuch by noting his conservative ideology and conservative judicial opinions, while Republicans, even those leery of Trump, are celebrating the nomination for the same reason — this is why many of them reluctantly backed Trump.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.