Key centrist GOP senators who have long opposed the idea of “going nuclear,” blowing up Senate rules to more easily confirm presidential nominations are now changing their tune and warning Democrats not to push them by filibustering Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, on Tuesday said Gorsuch is “eminently well-qualified” and doesn’t deserve to be filibustered, as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has vowed to do.
“There are no grounds for a filibuster of Neil Gorsuch,” she told reporters Tuesday afternoon.
If Democrats successfully filibuster Gorsuch, Republicans are expected to invoke the nuclear option and change Senate rules to allow Supreme Court justices to be confirmed by a simple 51-vote majority instead of the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster.
Asked if she would support a decision by Senate GOP leaders to “go nuclear,” Collins said: “I am not eager to see the rules changed so I hope that Democrats do not launch a filibuster against an eminently well-qualified nominee.”
“I’m hoping we’re not going to get to that point – that’s all I want to say,” she added.
Collins was part of what was known as the Gang of 14, seven Republicans and seven Democrats, who agreed in 2005 not to allow Republican leaders to invoke the nuclear option. The seven Republicans, including Collins, were enough to deny the GOP leaders the 51 votes to approve the Senate rules change to make it easier to confirm lower-court judges.
Each senator in the “gang” agreed that they could only support a filibuster in “extraordinary circumstances” – with each free to define what that meant and trusting each other enough for the pact to stick.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., another member of that group, on Tuesday also wouldn’t commit to opposing any effort by McConnell to invoke the nuclear option on Gorsuch.
“I would address that issue when it arises,” McCain said when asked if he would back a Senate rules change to seat Gorsuch.
