04 September 20XX
In a primetime broadcast President Trump announced that his nominee to replace the vacant seat on the Supreme Court left by the untimely death of Antonin Scalia would be U.S. appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch. Interestingly, the headline shows a touch of “Texascentrism” by pointing out the Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett had been “bypassed.” Willett himself declared the selection “a magnificent choice.”
There were other Texas connections in the selection. Senator Ted Cruz figures prominently in this article. First, it notes that Cruz had been discussed by some as a possible nominee for the Supreme Court position himself. Second, Cruz had pushed to get Senator Mike Lee of Utah on the “short list” of potential nominees as a condition to endorse Trump during the campaign. Cruz had also pushed Trump for guarantees that the nominee to the Supreme Court would come from a list that Trump had published earlier.
Another Texan, Senator John Cornyn will be a prominent player in the upcoming debate over this nomination. Both Cruz and Cornyn intend to support the nomination as it works its way through what promises to be a difficult confirmation. Democrats in the senate have threatened a filibuster which, in turn, is supported by local Texas democrats who accuse Gorsuch of “siding with the rich and powerful corporations against workers.”
Beyond being “Texascentric,” this article is a reasonably straightforward and unbiased report. There is no apparent “side” taken in the basic liberal/conservative ideological dispute that is obviously a significant part of the American political scene in 2016. The “comments” section of this online publication was a different story though. The comments were generally split evenly with a clear, virulent anti-Trump component more or less balanced with those using that hashtag MAGA.
Works Cited
Svitek, P. “Trump picks Gorsuch for U.S. Supreme Court, bypassing Willett,” Texas Tribune, 31 January 2017. https://www.texastribune.org/2017/01/31/trump-picks-name-supreme-court-bypassing-willett/ Accessed 31 January 2017.
