Senate Goes ‘Nuclear’ to End Filibuster on Supreme Court Picks, Pave Way for Gorsuch Confirmation
President Trump should now get his man on the highest court
Brian Flood | April 6, 2017 @ 9:44 AM
Last Updated: April 6, 2017 @ 11:45 AM
Getty Images
The Senate affirmed the “nuclear option” on Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court confirmation on Thursday. The move eliminates the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees, clearing way for President Trump’s conservative pick.
The decision could change the Senate and court for decades, as “the nuclear option” removes a 60-vote filibuster requirement for Gorsuch, who is now expected to be confirmed on Friday. However, the move also eliminates the filibuster for future court picks.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wanted to change the rules based on a precedent set by Senate Democrats back in 2013 when they used a similar tactic to help lower court and executive branch nominations receive confirmation.
Democrats had long vowed to fight the appointment. Last year, Barack Obama named Merrick Garland, chief justice of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, to fill Scalia’s vacancy. The Republican-led Senate refused to hold a hearing or vote on his nomination until after the election.
“I have selected an individual whose qualities define, really and I mean closely define, what we’re looking for,” Trump of Gorsuch in January.
Gorsuch is a conservative known as a strict originalist in interpreting the Constitution like Justice Antonin Scalia, whose seat he would fill when confirmed. Gorsuch was appointed to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals by President George W. Bush in May 2006. He would be the youngest nominee to the Supreme Court in the last 25 years.
A graduate of Harvard Law School with a Ph.D. from Oxford University, he clerked for prominent conservative judges such as Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Judge David Sentelle, and Supreme Court Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy.
2020 Presidential Candidates, Ranked by Vegas Odds (Photos)
Donald Trump won't take office until Jan. 20, but gambling site Bovada is already thinking about the next election. Here are its top candidates to win the presidency in 2020, ranked from worst odds to best.
John Kasich 40/1 odds
Bovada ranks several Republicans, which means they would have to replace Trump as the Republican nominee. Ohio's governor famously skipped the GOP convention there because he didn’t support Donald Trump. Maybe Bovada thinks he could take on Trump in the 2020 Republican primary?
Note that several people are tied at 33-to-1 odds. Rubio, a Florida senator, famously feuded with Trump during the 2016 primaries, earning the nickname “little Marco.” Bovada has longshot odds on him replacing Trump.
The first Democrat on our list, she was just elected as a California senator after previously serving as the state’s attorney general. She'll only have four years of experience in 2020, but President Obama only had four years.
The Democratic senator-elect from Nevada will be the first Latina senator. Like Harris, she will only have had four years of Senate experience in 2020.
The outgoing vice president considered running against Hillary Clinton in 2016 but decided not to after the 2015 death of his son Beau. Biden is popular, particularly with working-class voters whom Trump lured from the Democrats. He'll be 77 in 2o20, which would make him the oldest person to win the presidency, if he won.
After coming losing the Democratic nomination in 2008 to Obama and coming so close in 2016, does the former secretary of state have it in her to try again? She'll turn 73 in 2020, but Trump is eight months older.
The New Jersey senator is a talented campaigner and speaker and one of the most prominent African-American Democrats. The New Jersey senator is also popular among his peers.
The Massachusetts senator could pick up supporters of the Sanders movement. She has feuded with Trump, but also expressed a willingness to work with him on certain issues.
The House Speaker is a star among traditional conservatives, but it will take a TV drama worth of surprises for him to somehow replace Trump as the presidential nominee, but that's true of every other Republican on this list, too.
Gambling site Bovada is already thinking about the next election
Donald Trump won't take office until Jan. 20, but gambling site Bovada is already thinking about the next election. Here are its top candidates to win the presidency in 2020, ranked from worst odds to best.