The Senate confirmed today Judge Neil M. Gorsuch to become the 113th justice of the Supreme Court, after a bruising confrontation that has left the Senate a changed chamber. The Senate voted yesterday to change longstanding rules to make it possible to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch to serve on the Supreme Court. By a vote yesterday of 55 to 45, all Republicans and three Democrats voted yesterday to proceed to final debate on the nomination of Gorsuch. Judge Gorsuch, 49, could serve on the court for 30 years.Vice President Mike Pence presided over the final vote today, a show of force for the White House on a day when his tiebreaking vote as president of the Senate was unnecessary. The final vote was 54-45 in favor of confirmation. Congress is scheduled today to leave Washington for their two-week Easter recess.
Yesterday, after Democrats waged a filibuster against Gorsuch, denying him the 60 votes required to advance to a final vote. Senate Republicans bypassed the precedent-breaking Democratic filibuster by allowing the motion to go forward on a simple majority vote–the so-called “nuclear option.” Senate Republicans have now fundamentally altered the way the Senate handles one of its most significant duties–dealing with matters of the Supreme Court. Going forward, Senate rules now allow the confirmation of Gorsuch and all other Supreme Court nominee by a simple majority vote.
In 2013, Democratic Senators, angered by years of GOP blockades on President Obama’s nominees, also used the nuclear option to push through rule changes allowing that all presidential nominees for executive branch positions and federal courts need only a simple majority vote to be confirmed by Senators.
Republicans argued that changing the rules to push through the nomination was their only option, seeking to shift responsibility for blowing up the Senate’s longstanding practices to the Democrats. Allowing the filibuster to succeed, they said, would cause more damage than overriding Senate precedent to ensure it fails. In any case, the rule change is likely to make an already bitterly divided Senate even more partisan.
Many Democrats remain angry over previous treatment of Judge Merrick Garland, President Obama’s nominee for the seat left vacant with the February 2016 death of Justice Scalia. Republicans refused to consider Garland during the presidential election year. At the same time, critics of Judge Gorsuch say they have reason to oppose him, chafing at the suggestion that Democrats are merely seeking payback for the the treatment of Garland.
A week from Monday, Gorsuch will put on his robes, follow the court’s custom of shaking hands with each of his colleagues and ascend to the Supreme Court bench to hear his first arguments.
