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To Counter Trumpism, Let's Press the Senate to Confirm Judge Garland

The dominant view in national media is that there's no way that we can compel the Senate to vote on the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland. But this is the same national media that told us there was no way we could stop the Keystone XL pipeline.
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Policy Director, Just Foreign Policy

Policy Director, Just Foreign Policy
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Judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obamaâs choice to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, sits during a meeting with Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 22, 2016. Garland, who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, is being blocked from a confirmation hearing by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has been steadfast in his refusal to advance any Supreme Court nominee during the waning months of Obamaâs presidency. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obamaâs choice to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, sits during a meeting with Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 22, 2016. Garland, who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, is being blocked from a confirmation hearing by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has been steadfast in his refusal to advance any Supreme Court nominee during the waning months of Obamaâs presidency. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Whatever dwindling hope remained that Trumpism would somehow magically go away just got two more blows in the last few days. First, Donald Trump got a hero's welcome at AIPAC. Then, Trump exploited a terrorist attack in Brussels to generate headlines with calls for purported "tough guy" measures such as "closing the borders" and "doing a lot more than waterboarding."

To save America from Trumpism, we need to strengthen our democratic institutions that Trump and the national Republican Party have been working tirelessly to undermine. That certainly includes the Supreme Court, which needs nine justices to function with full legitimacy.

The dominant view in national media is that there's no way that we can compel the Senate to vote on the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland. But this is the same national media that told us there was no way we could stop the planned 2013 U.S. bombing of Syria, nor any way we could stop the Keystone XL pipeline. National media have a tendency to underestimate the potential of democratic organizing. Since they hang out with powerful insiders, they tend to share the prejudices of powerful insiders.

On Monday, I helped organize an action in Chicago at Republican Senator Mark Kirk's office, demanding that Senator Kirk do more to press Senate Republican leaders for a debate and vote on Judge Garland.

When Senator Kirk's staff met with a delegation from our demonstration, they promised that Senator Kirk would indeed keep pressing the Senate Republican leadership for a debate and vote on Judge Garland, publicly and privately, exactly as our demonstration and our Illinois petition demanded.

What happened in Chicago Monday can happen and keep happening all over the country, until Senate Republicans agree to a vote on Judge Garland. You can add your voice here.

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