2016 Cory Booker Needs To Have A Talk With 2017 Cory Booker

Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) will meet with Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch today at noon. Currently Booker has not gone on the record about whether he supports an up-or-down vote for Judge Gorsuch. Yet back in 2016, the New Jersey Senator was very clear that a Republican President’s Supreme Court nominee was entitled to an up-or-down vote:

“But I’m a big believer, … If the situations were reversed and there was a Republican president in the last year on the federal level … I would be calling just like some Republican Senators have, I just listened to Senator Collins from Maine saying we should be giving this person a hearing, an up-or-down vote to not do so is violate of the United States Constitution.”

The downside of a Supreme Court with just eight members was another topic Senator Booker spoke about last year:

“So for several months now, the Supreme Court has not been functioning as it was intended by the Constitution. The Supreme Court’s missing a justice, and because of that vacancy, cases have resulted in 4-4 tie votes. As a result of those 4-4 decisions, we lack a national precedent in cases that could guide lower courts bringing resolutions that are necessary for ordinary Americans who go before our justice systems seeking justice as was intended in the Constitution. It’s challenging in providing certainty to businesses. It’s challenging in providing the regular course of many Americans life.”

After Booker’s meeting with Judge Gorsuch, he needs to come out forcefully for an up-or-down vote. Anything less than that shows that Booker is playing politics with the Supreme Court.