Most Senate Democrats voted Thursday to block the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court, a move that was expected to prompt Republicans to use the so-called “nuclear option” to confirm Gorsuch by changing the rules of the Senate.
After the failed vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was expected to call a vote that will change the number needed to end debate on a high court nominee, from 60 votes to just 51 votes. That change will allow Republicans by themselves to advance Gorsuch to a final vote, and then confirm him on Friday.
Only four Democrats voted with Republicans to end debate on Gorsuch, which prevented Republicans from getting the 60 votes necessary. Republicans control just 52 votes in the Senate.
The final vote was 55-45, as McConnell changed his vote to “no” because that allowed him to call a vote to reconsider the vote. The second vote failed by the same margin. In both votes, Democrats Michael Bennet of Colorado, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heide Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia voted with Republicans to end debate.
McConnell called the opposition against Gorsuch a “radical move,” and an unprecedented bipartisan filibuster of a high court nominee who has been praised as well qualified for the job.
“But then again, this isn’t really about the nominee,” McConnell said. “The opposition to this particular nominee is more about the man that nominated him and the party he represents than the nominee himself.”
Democrats argued Gorsuch is ultra-conservative and outside the mainstream. His rulings, they argue, show he favors corporate interests over people.
“The questions we have raised about his judgment and his values go to the heart of who we are and what we want to be,” Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said. “Do we want the Supreme Court to continue to be a voice for the corporations? That is what it’s come down to. It’s a fundamental question of fairness and justice.”
