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Fight over Gorsuch Turns Radioactive, but at What Cost?

CBN

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WASHINGTON -- The fight over President Donald Trump's pick to become the next justice on the Supreme Court has turned radioactive on Capitol Hill. It's a square-off that could have lasting ramifications for both the court and the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has indicated he will go nuclear if he has to, i.e., change the Senate rules so Judge Neil Gorsuch can be approved by a simple majority vote of 51, instead of the 60 votes required.

Democrats now have enough votes to try and block the nominee.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., put his party over the top, announcing he's thinking about the future and won't prevent a filibuster.

"I will be voting against cloture unless we are able, as a body, to finally sit down and find a way to avoid the nuclear option and ensure the process to fill the next vacancy on the court is not a narrowly partisan process," Coons told the Judiciary Committee before it voted to send Gorsuch's nomination to the full Senate.

The next vacancy the president fills will likely tip the balance of the court.

For some Democrats, their resistance to Gorsuch is payback for Republicans not holding a hearing on former President Barack Obama's 11th hour nominee, Judge Merrick Garland.     

"I think it's obvious that the Senate is not a healthy institution," Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., of Nebraska told the Judiciary Committee.

However, there's mounting pressure to avoid the nuclear option. Some Republicans fear the fallout could be irreparable and urge McConnell to preserve the 60-vote rule.     

It's a weighty reality for Republicans who desperately want to put Gorsuch on the bench.

"We're headed to a world where you don't need one person from the other side to pick a judge and what does that mean? That means the judges are going to be more ideological, not less. It means that every Senate seat is going to be a referendum on the Supreme Court," Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., warned.

Senators will square off on Friday to determine if Gorsuch gets a black robe or Trump has to find another nominee.

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