Attorney Bill Banta of Greenwood Village has long experience in the law and deep knowledge of Colorado's judicial selection and retention process. Backbone America was impressed with his concise, cogent endorsement of Judge Neil Gorsuch for US Senate confirmation as a Supreme Court Justice this week.
While Banta didn't call out Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) by name, it seems written between the lines of his pointed warning for Trump's partisan opponents not to cast an "irredeemable" obstructionist vote against the eminently qualified nominee. At last, an apt use for the 12-letter adjective famously but inaptly applied to America's silent majority by Mrs. Clinton in 2016.
All eyes on Bennet these next few days as the endgame plays out for putting Gorsuch on the court "one way or the other" in Mitch McConnell's words. Here is Bill Banta's open letter:
I am a Colorado lawyer and I read that Neil Gorsuch was a Supreme Court Law Clerk for Justice Byron White, also from Colorado. John F. Kennedy appointed Justice White to the Supreme Court, and White proved to be as great an example of a Supreme Court Justice as there ever was. He has been a role model for American judges and justices, a man faithful to his oath, the Constitution, and the law. White was a person of experience, reason, common sense, and one of the few justices who wrote high court decisions with clarity.
The fact that Gorsuch clerked under Justice White helps explain how Neil Gorsuch became the outstanding judge he is. It takes courage, heart, and integrity to be worthy of the extraordinary title, "Justice." And as Antonin Scalia once said, being a Supreme Court Justice is not the job for men or women who need to be loved.
For any United States Senator to cause the nation to miss out on seating a Supreme Court justice of Gorsuch's ability would be short-sighted and likely irredeemable. That is to say, they will not have another chance. The Senate's "advice and consent" is well used when it supports the Rule of Law for the nation by promoting able judges and justices. This opportunity for United States Senators to do something for their country is unique.