Trump threatens ‘nuclear’ option over court nominee

Gardner’s Democratic counterpart, Sen. But that possibility is limited by the certainty that some defecting Democrats would then face primary challenges from the increasingly belligerent Bernie Sanders wing of the party that seeks to recreate the same dynamic on the left that the Tea Party had on the GOP.

Montana Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat who, like Manchin, is also facing reelection in a state that voted for Trump, said he was unsure whether Gorsuch could get the necessary 60 votes.

“This is nothing new”.

Yes. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., could expand the nuclear option to apply to Supreme Court nominees.

For almost a year, the Supreme Court has been evenly divided between Republican and Democratic nominees.

Republicans have already proved they were willing to upend usual procedure to push through Mr Trump’s nominees.

Should Democrats decide to go forth with filibustering the selection, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell could enact that so-called nuclear option: The Senate rules could be changed by simple majority, eliminating the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees.

Citing partisan gridlock in Washington, Mr Trump said at a White House event he would support the approval of Judge Gorsuch with 51 votes, instead of the 60 that have traditionally been required in the Senate to break a filibuster.

Who is President Trump’s nominee to be the new Supreme Court Justice? “I was hopeful that the president would have selected someone like Merrick Garland”.

Pence said Gorsuch, a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, had a “first-class intellect” and approached the law in a “fair and impartial way”.

Most Democrats want to fight.

The Democrats used the shift to pack the lower courts with Obama nominees. Jeff Merkley of OR, the Associated Press reported.

The nomination of Gorsuch, 49, looks set to trigger a bitter political battle as Democrats look for ways to resist the Trump White House. Things that would argue for his approval would be his impeccable academic resume at elite universities in America and overseas, his humble demeanor, and his work at Denver’s USA 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, where he now serves. Ken Salazar, D-Colo.

During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump alarmed voters with his seemingly blasé attitude toward nuclear weapons, refusing to rule out dropping them over Europe under the right circumstances, and reportedly asking a foreign policy adviser why America did not use nukes more often. “I am a man of my word”.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday night he has “very serious doubts” whether Judge Neil Gorsuch will meet his standard for winning confirmation to the Supreme Court.

“I’m not going to do to President Trump’s nominee what the Republicans in the Senate did to President Obama’s”.

Gorsuch now awaits confirmation by the Senate. “I’m not even going to speculate”. Some Democrats, including the current leader Chuck Schumer of NY, have voiced regret, since the changed rules are now allowing Trump to push his Cabinet picks through the Senate and Democrats can do little to stop him.