Democratic senators split over support for Gorsuch

Instead, Tester said Gorsuch was evasive, and that a groundswell of feedback from his constituents and an up-close review of the judge’s record led him to the decision, which he described as “one of my most important responsibilities” as a USA senator.

“The thing I worry most about is that we become we like the House of Representatives”.

This year’s brouhaha sees Senate Democrats and Republicans bracing for a showdown over President Donald Trump’s nominee, Neil Gorsuch. McConnell didn’t specifically pledge to follow the Reid Option to strip the minority of the filibuster on all appointments, but the implication was clear. Many senators are anxious that the if Republicans weaken the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees, in the same way Democrats did for all other presidential appointments in 2013, the chamber would be on a slippery slope and the filibuster for legislation could someday be diminished too.

But that could all change this Thursday.

And he said he believed the Senate should keep the current 60-vote threshold for Supreme Court nominees, a reference to Republican threats to scrap the rule in favor of a simple majority if Democrats go ahead with a plan to filibuster Gorsuch.

Many Democrats are still angry the Senate’s Republican majority refused to grant a hearing to Merrick Garland, former President Barack Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court.

CNN said at least 36 of 48 Democrats are on record as planning to filibuster Gorsuch’s nomination.

President Donald Trump has encouraged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to use the nuclear option, and McConnell has vowed to get Gorsuch on the bench. If these lawmakers were in the Senate today, it’s fair to say they would be Republicans. “This is the man who broke 230 years of precedent and held Judge Garland up for a year and a half, and now is complaining”.

On Sunday, Sen. Cardin of Maryland had a town hall meeting and was asked about the Gorsuch nomination – he didn’t rule out maybe voting against Gorsuch, but voting for cloture on his nomination, to avoid the nuclear option.

Republicans have already scooped up three Democratic senators, who were facing pressure from constituents in their Republican-leaning states: West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, North Dakota’s Heidi Heitkamp, and Indiana’s Joe Donnelly. There are 10 such senators in that position, but several others have said they will stick with the rest of their party and vote against Gorsuch.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) warned last week on the Senate floor that growing pressure from the right and the left will make it hard to withstand calls to eliminate the legislative filibuster.

Another Democrat in a Republican-dominated state who is up for re-election next year, Sen. This includes Senator Jon Tester, the Montana Democrat who revealed he would be opposing the nomination of Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. That may be a strong indication of where this is headed.

But there’s no rule that says justices have to get 60 votes. You have now viewed your allowance of free articles. “What is wrong is the Senate”. She said she was disappointed with many of Gorsuch’s answers at the hearing and felt he wasn’t forthcoming enough. He will challenge a motion to take up the nomination, hoping to block it with 41 votes. And Republicans underscoring how rare a filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee is are tweaking history to gloss over the fact their party once led a filibuster of a nominee.