Republicans go ‘nuclear’ to advance Gorsuch

WASHINGTON—Republicans altered longstanding Senate tradition today to advance Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch after a successful Democratic filibuster.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., petitioned a cloture vote to end debate on Gorsuch and move toward a confirmation vote, but Democrats held together to block the needed 60-vote majority 55-45 in the first-ever partisan filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee. Without a way forward, McConnell deployed what’s been called the “nuclear option”—changing the rules to lower the vote count necessary to advance high court nominees.

“Our Democratic colleagues have done something today that is unprecedented in the history of the Senate. Unfortunately, it has brought us to this point,” McConnell said. “We need to restore the norms and traditions of the Senate to get past this partisan filibuster.”

McConnell promised Gorsuch would be on the bench by the end of the week, and today’s action ensures that can happen. The majority leader blamed Democrats for breaking Senate tradition and blocking a Supreme Court nominee in the first year of a presidential term. From now on, Supreme Court nominees do not need a 60-vote majority to end debate and move to a final vote—a precedent held by the chamber since the 1940s.

Republicans voted along party lines 52-48 to end the 60-vote threshold on cloture. And then the Senate advanced Gorsuch 55-45 with three red-state Democrats joining in. The Senate will have to wait 30 hours until a final confirmation vote, which is expected around 7 p.m. Friday.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tried to delay McConnell from deploying the nuclear option for as long as he could. Using parliamentary tactics, he interrupted McConnell to try to postpone a vote until April 24 but failed.

Schumer spoke with a somber voice on the Senate floor ahead of the vote, decrying what this precedent change could mean for the country.

“The 60-vote bar in the Senate is the guardrail of our democracy,” he said. “There’s a reason it was dubbed the nuclear option. It is the most extreme measure, with the most extreme consequences.”

Democrats held the floor for most of the last 48 hours debating Gorsuch’s confirmation. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., one of the Senate’s most liberal members, spoke for near-record length overnight Tuesday, holding the floor for 15 hours straight.

Most Republicans said they were not happy about lowering the vote threshold for Supreme Court nominees but claimed they had no choice.

There’s nothing written in the U.S. Constitution which states Supreme Court nominees must have a 60-member consensus, said Carrie Severino, chief counsel for the Judicial Crisis Network. She said in a statement after the vote McConnell deserved credit for returning the original standard for confirming justices.

“Today, Leader McConnell and his Republican colleagues restored the Senate to its tradition of up or down votes for Supreme Court nominees,” Severino said. “In the process, Leader McConnell and his Republican colleagues put conservatives one step closer to preserving Justice Scalia’s legacy on the Supreme Court.”

Pro-life groups agreed, saying this was a good day for the unborn with Gorsuch one step closer to the high court.

“We thank Majority Leader McConnell for invoking the constitutional option to end Senate Democrats’ unprecedented partisan filibuster of Neil Gorsuch,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, Susan B. Anthony List president. “The stage is now set for Gorsuch to be confirmed with or without pro-abortion ideologues like Senator Schumer.”