Neil Gorsuch Confirmation: Senate 'Goes Nuclear' For Supreme Court Nominee

WASHINGTON, DC — In an unprecedented and historic move, Senate Republicans eliminated the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees Thursday to thwart Democratic efforts to block the appointment of Judge Neil Gorsuch. This move, which is only somewhat overdramatically known as the "nuclear option," overturned generations of norms and rules that required 60 Senate votes to confirm a Supreme Court justice.

Democrats, on the other hand, also set precedent by using the filibuster to block Gorsuch. With 45 votes, the Democrats had more than the necessary 41 senators to stall Gorsuch's nomination. Republicans, given their commitment to Gorsuch's appointment, were forced to respond by voting 52-48 on the rule change along party lines, which only required majority support.

"The dark deed is done," said Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon on Twitter. "[Sen. Mitch] McConnell has just put a knife into the heart of our We the People republic."

A final vote on Gorsuch's nomination is now expected Friday. At this point, there's no reason to doubt he will end up sitting on the bench.

"I am extremely disappointed by the blind obstruction carried out by Senate Democrats today," Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia said in a statement. "The Senate and our country are headed in a dangerous direction if this type of partisan behavior continues."

Senators and partisans on both sides of the aisle have bemoaned this apparently inevitable result of struggles over the Supreme Court, often trying to assign blame to their opponents for starting the partisan battles over what used to be a less rancorous process.

"This #SCOTUS nomination is the latest escalation in the Left’s never-ending judicial war, the most audacious yet, and it cannot stand," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in a tweet.

Though many view the Democratic opposition to Gorsuch as payback for the Republicans' refusal to vote on President Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland, the senators themselves argue that Gorsuch is not a mainstream enough candidate for them to support. "I oppose the nomination of Neil Gorsuch," Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Independent who caucuses with the Democrats, said on Twitter Thursday. "I cannot support giving a man with his views a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court."

But whether or not any individuals on either side bear the blame in this particular battle, increasing political polarization has been driven by an array of forces in recent decades. With that in the background, it is probably unavoidable that the Senate would end up in the position it finds itself in today.

“Wherever we place the starting point of this long twilight battle over the judiciary, we are now at its endpoint," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday on the chamber floor.

Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona expressed reservations about the nuclear option Thursday but said that Democrats had forced his party into a corner. "I am left with no choice," he said. "I will vote to change the rules." Just the day before, he said that anyone who thought eliminating the filibuster would be good was a "stupid idiot."

Colorado Democrat Sen. Michael Bennet, who opposed his party's filibustering of Gorsuch, said he would not vote for the nominee after Republicans took the nuclear option. "With these changes, justices may now be confirmed by the narrowest partisan majority. Allowing judiciary to become a pure extension of our partisan politics is precisely the outcome our Founders feared. Move forward, lifetime appointments to our highest court could become just another political exercise."

For Democrats, the downside of their filibuster is clear. If President Trump has the opportunity to appoint another Supreme Court Justice who is more controversial than Gorsuch, liberals in the Senate will have little leverage to block the nominee.

For Republicans, the downside is that they won't always hold the Senate. If and when Democrats control the White House and the Senate in the future, and they have the opportunity to appoint a justice, they will have strong incentives to appoint very liberal judges.

Watch a live stream of the proceedings below.

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