Republicans in the U.S. Senate took a page out of the Democratic playbook to clear the way for a Friday confirmation vote on President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court.
On Thursday, the Senate voted 55-45 on Judge Neil Gorsuch, short of the 60 votes needed to move forward on his confirmation.
Republicans then voted to eliminate the 60-vote threshold, allowing them to proceed to the Friday vote with a simple majority.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell raised a point of order to change the rules “under the precedent set on Nov. 21, 2013.”
Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says that’s when Senate Democratic majority Leader Harry Reid made the same move for lower court and executive branch nominations:
OC………..that they pioneered. ;20
Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, says criticism of his refusal to hold a hearing last year for President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland dates back to then Democratic Senator Joe Biden;
OC……..Bush’s term. 21
Grassley says “Republicans don’t conduct partisan filibusters of Supreme Court nominees, and we’re certainly not going to start with this highly qualified nominee to be the next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.”
