Despite Democratic delaying tactics, President Trump’s first pick for the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch, was finally confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Friday. The vote was 54-45, including 3 Democrats who voted for him. He will fill the seat left vacant when Justice Antonin Scalia died last year.
Gorsuch cleared his first big hurdle when the Senate Judiciary Committee approved him by party-line vote, 11-9. Then came the full-blown Senate showdown, orchestrated by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Despite Gorsuch’s impeccable academic credentials and outstanding service for a decade on the 10th Circuit Appeals Court, despite his top rating by the American Bar Association, and despite strong bipartisan support from former colleagues and friends, Schumer and his clan portrayed him as unfit to serve on the highest court  in the land.
Given the Democrats’ intransigence,  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell invoked the so-called “nuclear option.” In other words, Senate rules were changed to eliminate the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees. That action Thursday, cleared the way for an “up or down” vote by the full Senate on Friday. In a final act of  sheer desperation, Schumer tried again to delay the vote, but he failed. 
In my view, all the pontificating and posturing by the Senate Democrats who opposed Gorsuch was not about him. It was about President Trump. Therefore, what should have been about civil bipartisan discussion and debate, devolved into Kabuki theatrics, with Schumer and friends playing their roles to the hilt of hyperbole and hypocrisy.
Actually, Schumer had already decided to block any Trump Supreme Court nominee, way before Gorsuch was even nominated. On MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” (Jan. 3), he said, “It’s hard for me to imagine a nominee that Donald Trump would choose that would get Republican support that we could support.” When asked by Maddow if he would do his best to hold the seat open, Schumer answered, “Absolutely.” So much for an open mind.
Schumer repeated his vow on CNN’s “State of the Union” (Jan. 22): “…we absolutely would  keep the seat open…We will fight it tooth-and-nail, as long as we have to.”
Schumer’s bogus “60 vote standard” claim ignores the fact that President Clinton’s first two nominees were confirmed without needing 60 votes, and so were President Obama’s.
The Washington Post wrote on Feb. 2: “Democrats are being slippery with their language. Sixty votes is not a standard for Supreme Court confirmations.”
When Sen. Bernie Sanders repeated this mythical standard, he, too, was refuted by the Washington Post, “There is no traditional “60-vote standard” or “rule” for Supreme Court confirmations, no matter how much or how often Democrats claim otherwise. 
Clearly, Gorsuch’s confirmation is a big win for President Trump, and a huge loss for Democrats, who refuse to admit he won and Hillary lost. Denial of that fact is a flaw they need to fix.    
Retired Army Col. Thomas B. Vaughn can be reached at tbvbwmi@blomand.net.