Mr. McConnell’s assessment must begin in the courtroom. Indeed, President Donald Trump deserves a great deal of credit for making an outstanding attorney general nomination. But it was McConnell’s visionary leadership in the Senate that laid the foundation for conservative changes in the federal judiciary.
In 2014, after Democrats invoked the so-called nuclear option that abolished the filibuster on all but Supreme Court nominations, Mr. McConnell and the Republicans regained the Senate majority in the 2014 midterm elections, and then President Barack Obama blocked the nomination of his successor, Merrick Garland. He stood up to tremendous pressure and in doing so saved the court’s conservative majority.
Then, when Trump became president and nominated Neil M. Gorsuch, a judge with undoubted qualifications and temperament, Democrats decided to filibuster his nomination. This was a grave miscalculation, but Mr. McConnell used it to convince his Republican colleagues that they had no choice but to extend Democratic precedent and eliminate the filibuster on Supreme Court nominations. “I made the case to the nation that if this man can’t get 60 votes, then no one nominated by a Republican president can get 60 votes,” McConnell said at the time. “That’s why we were able to persuade people who were reluctant and complaining about using the nuclear option four years ago to use it.”
If Democrats hadn’t overreached and McConnell hadn’t exploited that mistake, Gorsuch would never have been confirmed, nor would Brett M. Kavanaugh or Amy Coney Barrett. It would not have been done. Conservatives owe the court’s 6-3 majority and all of the court’s consequential decisions to McConnell.
The Supreme Court only hears about 80 cases a year, while the federal appeals courts have the final say on about 60,000 cases. Mr. McConnell’s Republican majority has confirmed more than 200 lower court judges during Trump’s term, including 54 circuit court judges, the most in a president’s first term in 40 years. Most approved in the year. As President Biden’s former chief of staff Ron Klain complained, these judges will “determine the scope of our civil liberties and the shape of our civil rights laws in 2050 and beyond.” become”. Amen to that.
Mr. McConnell handled policy battles with similar virtuoso acumen. After President Trump’s election, McConnell ushered in the first comprehensive tax reform in 30 years and helped remove the Obama-era regulatory poultice that had choked our nation’s economy, leading many Americans to believe that Mr. He helped unleash the prosperity he hopes to return to the Oval Office. . Every legislative accomplishment of President Trump has McConnell’s fingerprints on it, from passing criminal justice reform to opportunity zones to rebuild inner cities, opioid and sex trafficking bills, and the Right to Trial Act.
But Mr. McConnell broke with Mr. Trump when he needed to. He rejected President Trump’s repeated calls to eliminate the filibuster during a time when Republicans controlled the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives, wisely saying, “I don’t want to do this for short-term gain.” We have no intention of destroying our core traditions.” …There are no lasting victories in politics. In a filibuster-free Senate, no Republican would have a hard time imagining the vast list of socialist policies the 51 Senate Democrats would be willing to impose on Central America. ”
And when Joe Biden won in 2020, McConnell resisted pressure from President Trump to overturn the election results and called the Senate into session after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot to certify the electoral votes. and called it “the most important vote I’ve ever cast.” ” And he wisely voted against impeaching President Trump for inciting the January 6 insurrection, believing that the Senate cannot convict a president who has already left office. He did the right thing in both cases, even if it didn’t please anyone.
When Biden took office, McConnell blocked many of the president’s most egregious legislative policies. That includes the partisan For the People Act, a breathtaking 800-page federal assault on states’ election-running powers, and most of Biden’s multitrillion-dollar recovery plan. was. Better social spending planning. But McConnell also sought bipartisanship and helped pass an infrastructure bill. This showed that Republicans and Democrats could come together, and in doing so helped preserve the filibuster.
His legislative skills are surpassed only by his political skills. In the 2022 midterm elections, when President Trump endorsed disastrous Senate candidates but failed to utilize his then-$92 million war chest to support them, it was up to McConnell to save the Republican Party from electoral disaster. It was left in the hands of Mr. A super PAC affiliated with McConnell has invested a whopping $240 million in major races, including $32.2 million to save J.D. Vance’s struggling campaign in Ohio and $32.2 million in North Carolina. It includes $37.4 million to help Ted Budd win. Without these efforts, Republicans would not have been within striking distance of taking back the Senate this November.
Most importantly, McConnell has emerged on the world stage as a critical spokesperson for Washington and the Republican Party supporting the leadership of the Reagan party. He secured Senate ratification of NATO expansion to include Finland and Sweden, pushing back against Republican isolationist opposition to U.S. support for Ukraine in its valiant fight against Russian aggression. will continue to lead the company until he steps down.
This just scratches the surface of nearly 40 years of accomplishments, and his work is far from over. But when that happens, Mitch McConnell will be remembered as a giant of the Senate and a hero of the conservative movement.