McConnell and GOP were 100 Percent Right to Bust Gorsuch Filibuster, says D.C. Law Prof Victor Williams

WASHINGTON, April 6, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell deserves praise for working to end the unprecedented partisan filibuster against the Gorsuch nomination," says Washington, D.C. attorney and law professor Victor Williams.

Williams is a widely-respected expert in the fields of federal appointments and the judiciary.  Williams published a commentary in The Hill on April 6, 2017 which argued that the Constitution's Framers would approve of the Senate ending the Democrats' partisan filibuster against Neil Gorsuch.

After the Senate voted to the check the Democrats' obstruction, Prof. Williams states:

"Leader Mitch McConnell, Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, and the GOP Senate majority were right to end the unprecedented Gorsuch filibuster."

"It was a fitting tribute to the late Antonin Scalia whose seat the Gorsuch will now fill.   Both the text and original history of the U.S. Constitution prove that the Framers expected the Senate to use a simple-majority vote for all confirmations."

Victor Williams, who is chair of the America First Lawyers Association, had been an early primary supporter of Donald Trump and had founded "Lawyers and Law Professors for Trump" during the 2016 election. 

In the Hill column, Williams quotes Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Antonin Scalia in support of his thesis that a simple-majority confirmation vote was the original intent of the Constitution's Framers.

Williams explains that the 1787 Constitutional Convention delegates in Philadelphia explicitly rejected general super-majority vote requirements. 

Indeed, the U.S. Constitution only lists five explicit exceptions to the constitutional rule that the Senate was to hold only simple-majority votes: Those exceptions are for 1. expelling members, 2. ratifying treaties, 3. overriding presidential vetoes, 4. convicting on impeachments, and 5. proposing constitutional amendments.  

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From The Hill column:

Justice Antonin Scalia's famed Freytag v. Commissioner concurrence reads as prescient in the battle to fill his seat:

"A power of appointment lodged in a President surrounded by such structural fortifications could be expected to be exercised independently, and not pursuant to the manipulations of Congress."

A Scalia-approved analysis of constitutional text and original history proves that the Constitution's Framers intended only simple-majority confirmation votes.  

A rich legal and policy literature has developed to expose the Senate filibuster's tainted history and the unconstitutional operation of the cloture rule.

Consider Professor Edward Corwin's decades-old condemnation of the Senate filibuster which "extorts special favors for its authors." Professor Corwin lamented the "indefensible concessions which a small block of so-called 'Silver Senators' have been able to wrest."

Professor Corwin expressed concern that the obstruction of a Senate minority would come to harm the Senate's "intended purpose in the constitutional system."  Edward S. Corwin, The President: Office and Powers 348 (1948).

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Ahead of Friday's actual confirmation vote, Williams again endorses Judge Gorsuch's nomination for a seat on the Supreme Court

"Neil Gorsuch's sterling academic, juridical, and personal qualifications make him the perfect choice to be President Donald Trump's first appointment to the high court."

In the past nine weeks, Williams, and his pro-Trump lawyers group, have been advocating for the speedy confirmation of all President Trump nominees against Democratic obstruction. 

Williams has emphasized the stellar qualifications of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

Williams has also been supporting President Trump by filing amicus curiae briefs in the national litigation challenging Trump's travel freeze. Williams argues that the challenges present a "nonjusticiable political question" that interferes with Trump's foreign policy and war strategy. 

Williams predicts: "Trump will ultimately win at the (now full) Supreme Court."

Victor Williams is a Washington, D.C. attorney and law professor. He leads America First Lawyers Association  – www.americafirstlawyers.com

Contact:
Victor Williams
301-951-9045
[email protected]

SOURCE Prof. Victor Williams