Senate Democrats “are under enormous pressure” from their liberal base to block the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday.
McConnell, R-Ky., in a floor speech opening Senate business for the week, pointed to Gorsuch’s performance at his confirmation hearing in the Judiciary Committee last week as an indication that Democrats would not be satisfied with any GOP-chosen nominee.
“We know our Democratic friends are under enormous amount of pressure from some on the far left who want them to ‘resist,'” McConnell said, adding that the groups “refuse to accept the results of the election and would like nothing more than to obstruct the serious work of the Senate.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee today moved formally to delay consideration of Gorsuch until next week.
McConnell said he’ll bring the nomination to the Senate floor next week as well in order to confirm Gorsuch before Congress leaves for a two-week recess.
Democrats are threatening to filibuster Gorsuch and several Democratic Senators have announced their opposition.
McConnell has pledged to confirm Gorsuch no matter what Democrats do, which suggests he would employ the “nuclear option” to lower the confirmation threshold from 60 votes to a mere simple majority.
“If our Democratic colleagues choose to hold up this nomination, then they are acknowledging they’ll go to any length to block any Supreme Court nominee of a Republican president,” McConnell said. “If Neil Gorsuch can’t be confirmed, there is no nominee of any Republican president that our friends on he other side of the aisle would argue, deserves 60 votes.”
