Filibuster Gorsuch: Schu
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer called on fellow Democrats Thursday to filibuster the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.
“I have concluded that I cannot support Neil Gorsuch’s nomination,” Schumer said. “My vote will be no, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.”
His opposition could force Republicans, who control 52 seats in the Senate, to either round up eight Democratic votes or to take the so-called “nuclear option” of changing the rules to eliminate the 60-vote requirement for confirmation.
Schumer during a speech on the Senate floor dared the GOP to make the rules change.
“To my Republican friends who think that if Judge Gorsuch fails to reach 60 votes, we ought to change the rules, I say if this nominee cannot earn 60 votes — a bar met by each of President Obama’s nominees and George Bush’s last two nominees — the answer isn’t to change the rules. It’s to change the nominee,” he said.
The White House slammed Schumer for trying to create political turmoil.
“We find Schumer’s announcement truly disappointing because it breaks with the tradition of how the Senate has handled Supreme Court confirmation votes in modern times and represents the type of partisanship that Americans have grown tired of,” said presidential spokesman Sean Spicer.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pledged to get Gorsuch to the high court one way or another.
“Gorsuch will be confirmed. I just can’t tell you exactly how that will happen yet,” McConnell said this week.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on the confirmation April 3.