Senate Poised To Go Nuclear Following Successful Democratic Filibuster Of Gorsuch
"It would be a radical move ..."
Democrats in the Senate successfully blocked the confirmation of President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, setting up a historic Republican vote to kill the filibuster.
Gorsuch’s nomination was blocked on a 55-45 vote Thursday. The Senate’s failure to garner 60 votes in favor of Gorsuch marks the first successful filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee in almost five decades.
Only four Senate Democrats voted with Republicans Thursday morning to avoid the triggering of the so-called “nuclear option.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., also voted against Gorsuch in the initial round so he could bring the judge’s nomination back up following the inevitable Senate rule change.
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Republicans expected to vote on the nuclear option later Thursday, which would lower the 60-vote requirement on Supreme Court nominees to a simple 51-vote majority.
“Bad day for Democracy,” said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. The Arizona senator and staunch opponent of Trump has been a vocal opponent of the nuclear option.
“After 200 years, at least 100 years of this tradition, where the Senate has functioned pretty well, they think it would be a good idea to blow it up,” he said Tuesday.
Both parties blamed each other for the development.
McConnell hammered Democrats for carrying out the “first successful partisan filibuster in American history.”
“It would be a radical move, something completely unprecedented in the history of our Senate, and out of all proportion to the imminently qualified judge who is actually before us,” he said prior to the vote.
Democrats say their filibuster was a tit for tat in response to Republicans’ blocking former President Barack Obama’s nominee, Judge Merrick Garland.
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“Merrick Garland, he was the ultimate filibuster,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. “What I think is destructive is the finger-pointing back and forth. Everybody has to take responsibility for their decisions and their roles. We chose not to change the rules for Supreme Court.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is urging McConnell against triggering the nuclear option. “When a nominee doesn’t get enough votes for confirmation, the answer is not to change the rules, it’s to change the nominee,” said Schumer.
Moderates, such as Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who was one of the four Democrats to vote in favor of Gorusch, are calling out both parties for their handling of Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.
“Frustratingly, both parties have traded talking points: Republicans say it’s about obstructionism and Democrats say it’s a power grab,” Manchin said in a statement. “Their shifting positions and hypocrisy is the one thing that unites them: both times, it was simply about doing what was politically easy instead of doing the hard work of consensus building.”
But Republicans are past the point of bipartisanship in the battle for Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
“One way or the other, we will confirm Judge Gorsuch,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday. The way in which Gorsuch is inevitably confirmed “is in the hands of the Democratic minority,”
“But it will end with his confirmation,” he promised.
What do you think?rrick Garland, he was the ultimate filibuster,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. “What I think is destructive is the finger-pointing back and forth. Everybody has to take responsibility for their decisions and their roles. We chose not to change the rules for Supreme Court.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is urging McConnell against triggering the nuclear option. “When a nominee doesn’t get enough votes for confirmation, the answer is not to change the rules, it’s to change the nominee,” said Schumer.
Moderates, such as Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who was one of the four Democrats to vote in favor of Gorusch, are calling out both parties for their handling of Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.
“Frustratingly, both parties have traded talking points: Republicans say it’s about obstructionism and Democrats say it’s a power grab,” Manchin said in a statement. “Their shifting positions and hypocrisy is the one thing that unites them: both times, it was simply about doing what was politically easy instead of doing the hard work of consensus building.”
But Republicans are past the point of bipartisanship in the battle for Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
“One way or the other, we will confirm Judge Gorsuch,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday. The way in which Gorsuch is inevitably confirmed “is in the hands of the Democratic minority,”
“But it will end with his confirmation,” he promised.
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