Supreme Court pick to confront a filibuster
WASHINGTON — Democrats now officially have enough votes to filibuster President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch, setting up the possibility of a history-making showdown that several senators Monday were urgently trying to prevent.
Even as both sides appear headed for a confrontation that would end with a change in the Senate’s rules to eliminate filibusters against Supreme Court nominees, conversations have been quietly underway behind the scenes among a handful of lawmakers from both parties trying to find a way to de-escalate. Their ability to strike a compromise remains doubtful.
Whatever happens, Gorsuch is all-but certain to be confirmed. The issue now is what the rules will be when the next vacancy occurs on the high court. Gorsuch would fill the seat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia — one conservative replacing another. But the next vacancy could change the balance on the court.
Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Gorsuch’s nomination Monday to the full Senate on an 11-9 party line vote.
As the panel did so, several senators announced their positions, bringing the number of Democrats who have publicly said they would support a filibuster against Gorsuch to 42 by day’s end, one more than needed to sustain a filibuster and block a vote on the nomination under current rules.
At least one senator indicated his decision to filibuster came with an asterisk — Sen. Christopher Coons, D-Del., who is among those trying to persuade colleagues to step back from the brink of the “nuclear option” that would upend Senate rules.
As Coons became the pivotal 41st Democrat to say he would back the filibuster, he said he would vote against ending debate on the nomination “unless we are able, as a body, to finally sit down and find a way to avoid ‘the nuclear option.’ ”
The “nuclear option” would lower the confirmation threshold to a filibuster-proof simple majority in the 100-member Senate.
Democratic senators involved in the discussions essentially want an assurance that if they allow a vote to proceed on Gorsuch, Republicans will drop the threat of rules changes in the future, maintaining the 60-vote threshold on subsequent Supreme Court vacancies.
But with partisan tensions running high in the Senate, and trust low, such a deal is difficult to reach, and almost impossible to enforce, congressional officials said.
Gorsuch counts 55 supporters in the Senate: the 52 Republicans, along with three moderate Democrats from states Trump won last November — Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana.
Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet from Gorsuch’s home state of Colorado has said he will not join in the filibuster against Gorsuch but has not said how he will vote.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky vowed Gorsuch will be confirmed on Friday.
Many senators fear that if Republicans change the rules to allow confirmations with a simple majority, the Senate would soon begin to run more like the House, where majority rules, rather than as a slowermoving body that requires bipartisan cooperation to achieve a 60-vote threshold to advance most items.
McConnell insisted the rules change would cover only Supreme Court nominees, but many senators worry it’s only a matter of time before the rules are changed to eliminate filibusters on legislation, too.