Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) kicked a hornet’s nest when he made what very much sounded like a threat against Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch last week.
After much speculation, it now appears as though GOP members will be moving forward to censure the Senate Minority Leader for his comments.
Not Backing Down
Schumer’s comments are well-documented at this point.
The inflammatory nature of those comments was so bad, even Chief Justice Roberts issued a statement calling him out.
After initially pushing back, Schumer finally apologized, weakly I might add.
His excuse was that he is from the Bronx and they talk tough.
He also stated his “threat” was actually meant for congressional Republicans, even though he specifically named Gorsuch and Kavanaugh during his stump speech.
Senate Republicans do not seem to want to let this go, with Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) leading the charge.
Hawley introduced a resolution in the Senate calling for Schumer’s censure.
Holding Firm
The resolution by Hawley was warmly received in the Republican-dominated Senate, with 14 Senators co-sponsoring the measure.
The resolution describes Schumer’s comments as “an attempt to unduly influence the judicial decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States and to undermine the vision of the founders of the United States of the ‘complete independence of the courts of justice.'”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) also went after Schumer regarding his comments, stating, “There is nothing to call this except a threat.”
The Senate rarely takes his measure, as only nine other Senators have been censured in the history of the country.
The last time it happened was in 1990 with a unanimous vote of 96-0 against Senator David Durenberger (R-MN).
It would be unlikely that we would see a shutout vote, but numerous Dems have already come forward expressing their disapproval of Schumer’s comments, so it very well may get bipartisan support if McConnell puts it on the floor.