Dems to Make McConnell Go Nuclear
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Senate Democrats appear to have enough votes to block Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court under current rules, a move that may lead to a unilateral rule change by Republicans known as the “nuclear option” to put President Donald Trump’s first nominee on the court.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination Monday on an 11-9 party-line vote. At least 41 Democrats say they plan to vote not to advance Gorsuch’s nomination this week, according to a Bloomberg News tally. While the GOP controls the Senate 52-48, current rules require 60 votes to move a high court nomination toward a final vote. Changing the Senate rules is a controversial step that could roil the politics of the chamber.
This was a no-brainer. There was absolutely no substantive or political upside to letting Gorsuch through without forcing McConnell to go nuclear. Refusing to filibuster would have normalized a stolen Supreme Court seat in exchange for nothing. Or, as Chait put it, the filibuster for Republican nominees is clearly gone de facto; the only question was whether Senate Dems would preserve it to potentially be used against a Democratic president.
It should have been obvious, but during Obama’s first term many Democratic senators — and not just those on the right of the party, but some liberals like Leahy and Feingold — seemed to believe that Senate norms could be preserved by unilateral disarmament. It would have been much better had the filibuster been blown up over the Alito nomination. It’s good that those days are over, and it’s good that Schumer was out front in making this happen.
This can't be shared enough. #gorsuch #SCOTUS pic.twitter.com/XzFvGhmyAG
— Katherine A. Ganzel (@KatherineGanzel) April 3, 2017