Democrats in the Senate vow to filibuster vote on Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Gorsuch:
Action could force GOP’s McConnell to change the confirmation process
WASHINGTON — The Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, on Thursday vowed to lead an attempt to filibuster the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch, as supporters and critics traded dueling views on the fourth and final day of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearings.
While a parade of witnesses spoke in the committee room, Schumer went to the Senate floor and announced that he and other Democrats would refuse to permit an up-ordown vote on President Donald Trump’s nominee. The Senate’s “cloture” rule requires a supermajority of 60 votes to overcome such a filibuster.
“After careful deliberation I have concluded that I cannot support Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court,” Schumer said. “His nomination will have a cloture vote. He will have to earn 60 votes for confirmation. My vote will be no, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.”
Credentials undisputed
If at least 41 of the chamber’s 48 Democrats stick together in the filibuster, it would force the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to decide whether to try to change the rules of the chamber and approve Gorsuch with a simple majority.
McConnell has said he wants the Senate to confirm Gorsuch to fill the vacancy, which was created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia a year ago, before departing for a scheduled recess on April 7.
During the four days of hearings, even Gorsuch’s critics did not dispute his credentials. On Thursday, representatives of the American Bar Association told the committee that it had unanimously found Gorsuch to be “well qualified,” the group’s highest rating. That was particularly notable in light of studies that have shown the group has tended to favor the nominees of Democratic presidents.
“We do not give the wellqualified rating lightly,” said Nancy Scott Degan, an official of the bar association.
The group also had given its highest rating to Judge Merrick B. Garland, whom President Barack Obama nominated for the Supreme Court last year. Senate Republicans refused to consider Garland’s nomination, and liberal groups have been pressuring Democrats to filibuster the vote on Gorsuch.
Fight now or later
Four years ago, when Democrats controlled the Senate and Republican senators were blockading Obama’s appeals court and executive branch nominees, Democrats changed the chamber’s rules to bar filibusters for such positions — but left the filibuster rule in place for Supreme Court nominations.
To eliminate the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees, Republicans would need to vote in virtual lock-step: The party effectively has only 51 votes right now because one member, Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., is recuperating from back surgery, so just two Republican senators could block a rules change.
Still, Gorsuch’s nomination is broadly popular among conservatives. The question facing Democrats is whether to have a filibuster fight over Gorsuch, highlighting what they consider the theft of a seat they believe Obama had a right to fill, or whether to save that attention-grabbing tactic for a hypothetical future vacancy if a more liberal justice dies or steps down and Trump nominates a staunch conservative who would shift the court’s balance.