Senate Republicans this week may decide to change Senate precedent in order to confirm President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, a change known in Washington, D.C., as the “nuclear option.”
Politicians have given it that name because they fear it will essentially destroy the Senate, turning it from a body that seeks to find agreement between the parties, into a body that can increasingly pass what it wants with support from only the majority party, just like the House.
Here’s how Republicans could change the rules this week:
Under current Senate precedent, it takes 60 votes to end debate (or cloture) on a Supreme Court nominee. Nominees who advance past that hurdle can then be confirmed with a simple majority.
The 60-vote threshold usually ensures a bipartisan vote, since a single party rarely controls 60 votes at a time in the chamber.
As of early April, Democrats indicated that they have at least 41 members in the Senate who will not vote to end debate on Trump’s nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch. That means they can’t get the 60 votes they need for cloture.
Republicans have said Gorsuch will be confirmed one way or the other, and that likely means the GOP will move unilaterally to change Senate procedure, so that only 51 votes are needed for cloture.
One likely way Republicans will do this is by holding the vote, and then seeing if Democrats vote against cloture. If that happens, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., could raise a point of order that says, from now only, only 51 votes are needed for cloture for Supreme Court picks.
The Senate would vote on McConnell’s motion, and if all the Republicans agree to back him, the precedent would be changed, and Gorsuch could be advanced to a final vote with just 51 votes, and then confirmed with 51 votes.
That’s exactly what happened in 2013, when Democrats, frustrated by Republican obstruction on President Obama’s nominees, first invoked the nuclear option. Under then-Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Senate precedent was changed so that all nominees except for Supreme Court picks could be advanced with a simple majority.
The fact that Democrats acted first to change Senate precedent is giving Republicans some cover as they consider making a similar move this week related to Supreme Court picks. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has admitted that he regrets the Democratic move in 2013.
