Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., announced Friday that she will vote against Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court, increasing the chances that Republicans will have to trigger the “nuclear option” to confirm the judge.
In a statement, the Missouri Democrat announced she will oppose Gorsuch’s and support a filibuster of his nomination. She was one of a handful of Democrats that Republicans were hoping would come around and support Gorsuch.
“This is a really difficult decision for me. I am not comfortable with either choice,” McCaskill said. “While I have come to the conclusion that I can’t support Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court — and will vote no on the procedural vote and his confirmation — I remain very worried about our polarized politics and what the future will bring, since I’m certain we will have a Senate rule change that will usher in more extreme judges in the future.”
“I cannot support Judge Gorsuch because a study of his opinions reveal a rigid ideology that always puts the little guy under the boot of corporations,” McCaskill said, adding that Gorsuch “is evasive, but his body of work.”
The announcement is another sign that Republicans could be forced to invoke the so-called nuclear option that would lower the threshold of support for a Supreme Court nominee from 60 to 51 votes. As of now, Gorsuch has won support from only two Senate Democrats — Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D. — of the likely eight needed to close debate on his nomination.
Longtime Senate Democrats are also viewed as members who could support cloture but probably not the nomination, including Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who serves as the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The Missouri Democrat is one of ten Democrats up for re-election in states won by Trump in November, and one of five who reside in states Trump won by double-digit margins. Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. are the only two left of those five who have not announced how they plan to vote on Gorsuch.
The news also comes only a day after leaked audio emerged where McCaskill told Democratic donors that she was worried about potentially voting against the nomination and said that “Gorsuch was one of the better ones” Trump could have nominated.
“There are going to be people in this room that are going to say, ‘No, no, no. You cannot vote for Gorsuch.’ OK, I get that,” McCaskill said. “Let’s assume for purposes of this discussion that we turn down Gorsuch, that there are not eight Democrats that vote to confirm him, and therefore there’s not enough to put him on the Supreme Court. What then?”
“So they move it to 51 votes and they confirm either Gorsuch or they confirm the one after Gorsuch,” McCaskill continued. “They go on the Supreme Court and then, God forbid, Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies, or [Anthony] Kennedy retires or [Stephen] Breyer has a stroke or is no longer able to serve. Then we’re not talking about Scalia for Scalia, which is what Gorsuch is, we’re talking about Scalia for somebody on the court who shares our values. And then all of a sudden the things I fought for with scars on my back to show for it in this state are in jeopardy.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote on Gorsuch’s nomination on Monday. A full vote in the Senate is expected next Friday.
