This story may be updated.
Republicans in the U.S. Senate successfully rewrote the rules on Thursday, with a 52-48 party-line vote triggering the so-called “nuclear option” that lowers the 60-vote threshold for Supreme Court nominees.
NARAL Pro-Choice America called it “the day the Senate died.”
Subsequently, the chamber voted 55-45 to end debate on Neil Gorsuch’s nomination, with Democrats Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), and Joe Manchin (W.Va.) voting with Republicans. The three Democrats (along with Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado) bucked their party’s filibuster earlier Thursday.
This sets up a vote on Gorsuch’s confirmation for Friday.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) cast the 41st vote against cloture on Thursday morning, teeing up the GOP’s “nuclear option” that would change the rules of the U.S. Senate.
Four Democrats—Michael Bennet (Colo.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), and Joe Manchin (W.Va.)—voted to advance Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, but the 55-45 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to proceed.
Now, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is expected to move forward with votes to eliminate the 60-vote threshold for Supreme Court nominees.
Even as that prospect loomed, advocacy groups pleaded with Republicans to change their nominee—not the rules.
“Today’s failure by the Senate Republicans to secure 60 votes to move forward on President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court speaks to the flaws of Judge Gorsuch, not the rules of the Senate,” said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, following the vote. “Instead of selecting a consensus nominee, the president chose someone who was proposed by the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society and who has shown that he will not support the interests of everyday Americans. It’s time for the Republican Party to change the nominee, not the rules.”
Watch live here.
All eyes on are on the U.S. Senate Thursday, as the showdown over President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, reaches its apex.
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT