The leader of the Tea Party Patriots told Breitbart News she and her activists are backing Judge Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court on Capitol Hill Monday, despite the lack of opposition from left-wing operatives.
“We are here on Capitol Hill today and we will be here tomorrow when Judge Gorsuch testifies for 10 hours. in addition, our Tea Party Patriots are making phone calls and sending emails and letters to their senators from across the country,” said Jenny Beth Martin, the author of the 2012 book Tea Party Patriots: The Second American Revolution.
Martin was joined by two dozen volunteers holding signs outside the Hart Senate Office Building, while Gorsuch spent the day listening to senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee make opening remarks before making his own 10-minute statement.
Gorsuch was nominated by President Donald Trump to fill the seat on the high court made vacant with the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia.
When the nominee walked into the hearing, he was mobbed by senators, well-wishers, and at least 30 photographers. The shutter clicks from the still cameras rose and fell like the waves of sleet upon a tin roof. His every step and motion triggered a new wave of shutter clutters, so much so that reporters, who are not members of the photographers gallery, stood up to take photos and videos of the photographers. It was not just the swarm of photographers in front of Gorsuch at the witness table, but also the photographers and video cameras in the shooters’ nests revealed by the removed panels in the walls on either side of the Hart-216 hearing room.
Also inside the room were 10-to-12 Capitol Hill police officers, including an officer with a still camera and a video camera, ready to document violations of the law or Senate decorum or both. Outside the room, there were four checkpoints: the immediate doorway, the doorway to the small lobby outside the hearing the room, then the door to the larger lobby on the other side of that door, and finally the hallway leading to that larger lobby.
Back outside Hart, Martin and the Tea Party Patriots were joined by activists from Concerned Women for America, Young Women for America, and the Susan B. Anthony List.
Martin said she was surprised that the left-wing protesters had not shown up to rally against Gorsuch, but an important lesson learned for Tea Party activists has been that regardless of what the Democrats do, the Tea Party must show up.
“It is important to show up,” she said. “No matter how big the event is, you show up. You talk to people, you hold signs, you let people know we are here–that is how you convert hearts and minds.”
The Republicans hold a 52-to-48 majority in the Senate. The Senate rules require 60 votes to end debate and hold a vote. Without saying it out loud, Senate Republican leaders have signaled that if Senate Democrats insist on extending debate, in the attempt to delay and/or block a vote on the nominee, they will challenge and overturn the 60-vote rule for ending debate for Supreme Court nominees.
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