Confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch
By Sen. David Perdue (R-GA)

President Donald J. Trump promised the American people he would nominate an unwavering supporter of the United States Constitution to the Supreme Court. He has now kept that promise.

After recently meeting with him, it is abundantly clear that Judge Neil Gorsuch is an outstanding choice to serve on the United States Supreme Court.

Throughout his career, Judge Gorsuch has been a stalwart defender of the Constitution. He has repeatedly shown his commitment to our country’s founding principles of economic opportunity, fiscal responsibility, limited government and individual liberty.

These principles have served to make our nation exceptional throughout our history.

Judge Gorsuch has led a remarkable career in both the public and private sectors, and has demonstrated a keen understanding and appreciation of the law. He has impeccable academic and judicial records, and is a mainstream judge who knows his role is to interpret the law, not make the law

I have no doubt that Judge Gorsuch will honor Justice Scalia’s formidable, impressive legacy of interpreting the Constitution based on the original intent of the Founding Fathers.

Throughout last year, I and other members of the United States Senate held our ground in saying that no nominee to the Supreme Court should be confirmed until after the presidential election.

We gave the American people a voice in the process. We knew that the hyper-partisanship and politics of a presidential election cycle should never have any place in the nomination and confirmation of a Supreme Court justice, a lifetime appointment.

The integrity of the advice and consent process, clearly spelled out in Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution was at stake.

In protecting the integrity of this sacred Constitutional process, we did our job. Now that President Trump has announced his nomination, it’s time to continue doing our job.

I hope that Democrats will not follow the obstructionist tactics they have already displayed this year, especially considering 11 of them, including Leader Schumer and Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Feinstein, supported Judge Gorsuch when he was unanimously confirmed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Last June, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted, “In order for justice to remain a pillar of this nation, we must have a functioning judicial branch. The Supreme Court of the United States must have nine justices.”

Later that same month, Minority Leader Schumer also said on the floor of the United States Senate, “Every day that goes by without a ninth justice is another day the American people’s business is not getting done.”

Yet last month, Minority Leader Schumer went on CNN and said, “We absolutely would keep the seat open … we will fight it tooth-and-nail, as long as we have to.”

Minority Leader Schumer and other Democrats announced their opposition before President Trump even announced a nominee.

The political theater of 2016 had no place in the confirmation process last year. Now is the time to govern, not to engage in the far off political theater of 2018 and 2020.

Republicans put aside political games to confirm two justices to the Supreme Court under both President Obama and President Clinton.

Now, President Trump has nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch, a principled judge who will put the Constitution of the United States, and the rights of all Americans, at the forefront of any decision he makes.

Judge Gorsuch’s record of service, and his commitment to the Constitution and the rule of law, is quite clear. I’m looking forward to voting to confirm his nomination and to ensuring we have a fully functioning Supreme Court.

I Say We Are Doing Our Job
By Senator David Perdue
USA Today

Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution is clear. A president may nominate judges to the Supreme Court, but the power to grant or withhold consent rests exclusively with the U.S. Senate.

Nowhere does it say that the Senate must hold hearings or votes on these nominees. Senators of both parties have acknowledged and supported this position for years.

In 2005, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., declared, “Nowhere in that document (the Constitution) does it say the Senate has a duty to give presidential nominees a vote.”

Vice President Joe Biden, former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, made a similar argument in 1992. Biden said that “once the political season is underway, and it is, action on a Supreme Court nomination must be put off until after the election campaign is over. That is what is fair to the nominee and essential to the process.”

Both Reid and Biden were right then. Senate Republicans are right now. Despite Democrats previously making the same argument, they now say Republicans are not doing their job. I say we are doing our job.

What’s at stake here is the integrity of the advice-and-consent process, not a particular nominee. It’s the principle, not the individual.

The Democrats’ hypocrisy and political posturing is a perfect example of why Americans are fed up with Washington politicians and why Supreme Court confirmation hearings should not be held against the backdrop of a presidential election.

That is not a partisan viewpoint. The last time a Supreme Court vacancy arose in a presidential election year, and a nominee was confirmed in that same year, was 1932. Not since 1888 was a Supreme Court justice nominated and confirmed by a divided government in a presidential election year.

The upcoming presidential election will not only determine the direction of our country, but also serve as a referendum on the balance of the Supreme Court for generations.

The American people deserve a voice in this process.

Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., the only Fortune 500 CEO in Congress, serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Read the full op-ed at USA Today.