One day after audio surfaced of her questioning the implications of blocking Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch, Senator Claire McCaskill announced Friday that she would back a filibuster of his confirmation vote, moving the upper chamber closer to the potential “nuclear option” of eliminating the procedural maneuver for High Court appointments.
With McCaskill’s declaration, there are now at least 36 Democrats supporting the filibuster, based on an Associated Press count earlier Friday of at least 35. With 41, Gorsuch’s confirmation would be held up. She accused Gorsuch of exhibiting a “stunning lack of humanity” in his jurisprudence.
“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 in a statement. “He is evasive, but his body of work isn’t. Whether it is a freezing truck driver or an autistic child, he has shown a stunning lack of humanity.”
THE WEEKLY STANDARD reported on a tape of the Missouri Democrat speaking about the dangers to her party of a filibuster, first written by the Kansas City Star:
She pointed to the list of potential nominees that Trump released before the election to galvanize conservative support. “By the way, Gorsuch was one of the better ones,” McCaskill quipped.”So they pick another one off the list and then they bring it over to the Senate and we say no, no, no, this one’s worse. And there’s not enough votes to confirm him. They’re not going to let us do that too long before they move it to 51 votes,” she said. More here.
