This article first appeared on RobertReich.org.
Don't get caught up in the predictable brawl over Neil Gorsuch's credentials or his ideology. That normalizes the Trump presidency.
Instead, there should be no vote on Gorsuch's nomination until Trump's legitimacy as a president is established.
Which means the Senate intelligence committee and FBI must first conclude that Russian operatives were not responsible for Trump's electoral victory, Trump must reveal his taxes and he must put his assets into a blind trust.
Mitch McConnell wouldn't even permit a vote on Obama's pick, Merrick Garland, on the ground that Obama's term would end in 10 months. Here, we have a president whose term itself may not be legitimate.
Related: Robert Reich: The dangerous rise of Steve Bannon
A Supreme Court pick is the most important nomination a president can make, affecting how the Constitution and laws are interpreted and potentially affecting generations to come. There should be no cloud over the legitimacy of the president who makes such a pick.
Democrats and courageous Republicans must not produce the 60-vote quorum needed to overcome a filibuster. When and if this strategy no longer works, it is imperative that senators continue to vote against consent orders to proceed with the nomination—until and unless Trump's legitimacy is established.
Trump is the issue here, as well as the integrity of our democracy.
Robert Reich is the chancellor's professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and a senior fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. He served as secretary of labor in the Clinton administration, and Time magazine named him one of the 10 most effective Cabinet secretaries of the 20th century. He has written 14 books, including the best-sellers Aftershock, The Work of Nations and Beyond Outrage and, most recently, Saving Capitalism. He is also a founding editor of The American Prospect magazine, chairman of Common Cause, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and co-creator of the award-winning documentary Inequality for All.
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