Heidi Alexander: “President Trump's nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to be a member of the U.S. Supreme Court is being considered this…”

“President Trump's nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to be a member of the U.S. Supreme Court is being considered this week in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Soon, the nomination is likely to move to the floor for debate. Some have suggested that instead of allowing a majority of Senators to decide whether to approve the nomination of Judge Gorsuch, there should be first a cloture vote to determine whether to cut off debate. Cutting off debate requires the approval of 60 Senators, so if 41 of the 46 Democratic Senators vote not to cut off debate, there would never be an up-or-down majority vote to approve Judge Gorsuch. In other words, the 41 Democratic Senators would have filibustered to death the Gorsuch nomination. Filibustering to death the Gorsuch nomination--or any Presidential nomination, for that matter--flies in the face of 230 years of Senate tradition. Throughout the Senate's history, approval of even the most controversial Presidential nominations has required only a majority vote. For example, in 1991 President George H.W. Bush nominated Clarence Thomas to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. The debate was bitter. The Senate confirmed Judge Thomas narrowly, 52 to 48. Although the Senate rules allowed any Senator to try to filibuster the nomination to death, none did. In fact, Senate rules have always allowed Senators the option to filibuster to death a Presidential nomination; yet it has almost never happened.…”