Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is hurting the conservative cause by taking a hard line against a gambit by retiring Sen. Jeff Flake.

Flake, the Arizona Republican famously at odds with President Trump, says he will vote against every pending judicial nominee unless McConnell allows a Senate floor vote on a bill designed to protect the Russia-related investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller. Flake is the primary Senate sponsor of the bill, along with Democrats Chris Coons of Delaware and Cory Booker of New Jersey.