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Friday, May 26, 2017

Why Can't They Be Honest?

Ever hear of  Amul R. Thapar?  He's not exactly a household name, but yet he's a person of importance.  Mr. Thapar has been a District Court judge in the federal court in Kentucky.  He was nominated by President Trump recently to an open seat on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.  Yesterday, the Senate voted on his nomination and approved it by a vote of 52 to 44.  All Republicans voted in favor and all Democrats voted against the nomination.

It doesn't sound like much, does it?  The Democrats opposed yet another Trump nominee.  There is, however, much more going on here.  First of all, every Democrat voted against judge Thapar.  Why is that?  If the sides were reversed, the Democrats would, no doubt, claim it was racism since the judge appears to be of south Asian heritage.  While it is true that the Democrats, who hate a great many things, tend to reserve the biggest hatred for minority individuals who are conservatives.  Still, there is only one reason that every Democrat in the senate would vote against the nomination.  Judge Thapar is on the list of people that President Trump released during the campaign as possible nominees to the Supreme Court.  Yesterday's opposition is just to position the Democrats for a future battle over a Thapar nomination to the high court.

Remember when Justice Gorsuch was under consideration for SCOTUS?  How many times did we hear someone point out that the Senate had unanimously confirmed Justice Gorsuch just a few years earlier for a seat on the Court of Appeals?  That was embarrassing to people like Chuck Schumer who voted for Gorsuch the first time and who then had to lead the charge against his nomination.  Schumer and his fellow Democrats don't want to face that argument again, so they all voted against Judge Thapar.

The truth, though, is that Judge Thapar is a great addition to the federal judiciary.  He has both a stellar academic and judicial record.  He was also the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky before going on the bench.  He clerked for two different federal judges as well.

It is offensive that the Democrats are so caught up in their political battles that they won't even give fair consideration the nominee for an important judicial seat.

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