Filibuster over pick for top judge

REPUBLICANS THREATEN NUCLEAR OPTION Should Democrats succeed in blocking the president’s choice, long-standing Senate rules will be altered.

Senate Democrats are mounting a filibuster against US President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick, a rare obstruction of high court appointments. If the gambit proves successful this week, Republicans will likely go nuclear.

The Senate faces an epic showdown, beginning today, over whether to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch. It is a very public game of political chicken that could shape the make-up of the Supreme Court for years to come. It could also unravel any remaining pretence of bipartisanship in the upper chamber of Congress.

Should Democrats block Gorsuch, Trump’s Republicans are threatening to respond by altering longstanding Senate rules and bypassing the 60-vote threshold to advance nominees in the 100-member chamber. Such a manoeuvre is known as the nuclear option. And its results could be hugely consequential, on both sides of the political aisle.

“It churns our stomach,” Senator Mike Rounds told reporters when asked about whether fellow Republicans were really prepared to change the rules. “Once they let the genie out, it’s not going back in, unfortunately.”

All Senate confirmations technically require a simple majority vote of 51 senators. That would not be difficult for Republicans today, given that they control 52 seats.

Bumping the threshold up to 60 for a Supreme Court pick has only occurred four times in modern history. Never has a filibuster derailed a Supreme Court nominee.

Republicans would not be the first to go nuclear. Democrat Harry Reid unlocked the process in 2013 when he was Senate majority leader, changing the rules to lower the magic number from 60 to 51 on all presidential nominees, except Supreme Court justices.

Republicans will need eight Democrats to break the filibuster and get Gorsuch onto the bench, which has been one justice short since conservative Antonin Scalia died in 2016.

That will be a tall order, especially given the volcanic anger many Democrats still feel over the treatment of Merrick Garland, then-president Barack Obama’s pick to replace Scalia.

While Republicans blast Democrats’ “unprecedented obstructionism” of Gorsuch, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell let Garland languish for eight months without a vote. When Trump won the election, Garland’s nomination was dead.

Just two Democrats – Joe Manchin and Heidi Heitkamp, both from states that backed Trump – support Gorsuch. At least 36 have said they will join the filibuster. If they reach 41, Gorsuch is blocked. But Republican leadership will change the rules if need be. “The US Senate will confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch, one way or the other,” Vice-Presiden Mike Pence said on Saturday. – AFP