President encourages Mitch McConnell to 'go nuclear' to confirm Supreme Court nominee

pulse

February 1, 2017 9:17 PM

If Democrats filibustered the nomination, Gorsuch would need a supermajority of 60 votes to be confirmed in the Senate.

President Donald Trump.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday encouraged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to use the "nuclear" option to help get Judge Neil Gorsuch confirmed to the Supreme Court if Senate Democrats decided to filibuster his nomination.

"If we end up with the same gridlock that they've had in Washington for the last longer than eight years — in all fairness to President Obama, a lot longer than eight years — but if we end up with that gridlock, I would say, if you can, Mitch, go nuclear," Trump told reporters.

"Because that would be an absolute shame if a man of this quality was caught up in the web."

The president added, "So I would say it's up to Mitch, but I would say go for it."

If Democrats filibustered the nomination, Gorsuch would need a supermajority of 60 votes to be confirmed in the Senate. Republicans currently control 52 seats.

Several Democratic senators have already come out in opposition to Gorsuch's nomination, which comes after Barack Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland was thwarted by obstructionist tactics by Republican senators last year. Some Democrats believe similar obstructionism is fair retribution.

But if McConnell were to invoke the "nuclear" option, he could eliminate that possibility. Simply put, that option would be rewriting the Senate rules to eliminate the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees with a simple majority vote.

McConnell, however, is not a fan of doing so, and he said he believed Gorsuch would be able to get to 60 votes without having to kill the filibuster.

Gorsuch, a 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals judge, was confirmed to his current post by the Senate in 2006 by a voice vote.

"Well, I think there's a certain dishonesty," Trump said of Democrats looking to block Gorsuch, "if they go against their vote from not very long ago. And he did get a unanimous endorsement. ... And I mean, you can't do better from an educational, from an experience, from any standpoint.

"A great judge, he will be a great justice. So no, I feel that it's very dishonest if they go about doing that."

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