Republicans are edging closer to following through on a threat to “go nuclear” and blow up Senate rules to short-circuit a Democratic filibuster and easily seat Judge Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court.
As Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., continues to make his case for his colleagues to fall in line behind the filibuster to block Gorsuch from being confirmed, centrist Republicans who have a history of arguing to preserve Senate rules appear open to changing them if Democrats continue to try to obstruct his confirmation, as expected.
At least six centrist to more moderate Republicans have either come out squarely in favor of going nuclear to confirm Gorsuch or this week have signaled a willingness to be persuaded to vote to change the rules. The so-called nuclear option would change Senate rules to require only a simple 51-vote majority to confirm Supreme Court justices and would circumvent the need to shut down a filibuster, which requires 60 votes.
The rules change would set a new precedent for the way the Senate confirms high court judges by preventing the minority’s ability to block a nominee. In the process, it would further stoke partisan tensions in Congress.
But Republicans believe Democrats are leaving them no choice by trying to obstruct Gorsuch, who the American Bar Association has given its highest “well-qualified” rating.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., even though he has opposed going nuclear on high court judges in the past, for weeks now has said there’s “no other option” if Democrats don’t back away from their filibuster, because he doesn’t want to watch Democrats have their Supreme Court judges seated while Republicans’ picks languish. Graham voted for both Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, Obama’s two high court appointments.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a member of the “Gang of 14” that a decade ago negotiated a deal to avoid the nuclear option on Tuesday also wouldn’t commit to opposing any effort by McConnell to invoke the nuclear option on Gorsuch.
“I would address that issue when it arises,” McCain said when asked if he would back a Senate rules change to seat Gorsuch.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, on Tuesday said Gorsuch is “eminently well-qualified” and doesn’t deserve to be filibustered, as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has vowed to do.
“There are no grounds for a filibuster of Neil Gorsuch,” she told reporters Tuesday afternoon.
Asked if she would support a decision by Senate GOP leaders to “go nuclear,” Collins said: “I am not eager to see the rules changed, so I hope that Democrats do not launch a filibuster against an eminently well-qualified nominee.”
“I’m hoping we’re not going to get to that point — that’s all I want to say,” she added.
Like McCain and Graham, Collins was part of what was known as the “Gang of 14,” seven Republicans and seven Democrats, who agreed in 2005 not to allow Republican leaders to invoke the nuclear option in the case of lower court judges. The seven Republicans, including Collins, were enough to deny the GOP leaders the 51 votes to approve the Senate rules change to make it easier to confirm lower-court judges.
Each senator in the “gang” agreed that they could only support a filibuster in “extraordinary circumstances” — with each free to define what that meant and trusting each other enough for the pact to stick.
But those days of comity and trust are over after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., decided to prevent Judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s choice to fill the high court vacancy, from receiving a hearing or a vote on the floor for nearly a year. And now, Democrats are now blocking Gorsuch, whom many Republicans consider well-qualified for the Supreme Court.
Over the last 24 hours, Sens. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., John Thune, R-S.D., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, all have said they are not absolute “no’s” on invoking the nuclear option.
Now that Democrats are filibustering Gorsuch, the two sides are in a “spiral downward,” Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., lamented late Tuesday, with each side holding grudges from when the other was in power.
“I understand their base will not allow them not to filibuster — I’m stating the obvious,” Corker told reporters, arguing that Gorsuch is someone who would have easily passed muster in years’ past. “We are where we are. Democrats know that Mitch is ready to vote the nuclear option.”
