Top GOP senator: ‘Tragic mistake’ if Democrats try to block Gorsuch
Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), the No. 2 Senate Republican, fired off a warning to Democrats on Tuesday against trying to block President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.
“I hate to see our colleagues taking us down this path but they are determined to oppose everything and anything these days,” Cornyn said from the Senate floor. “I think our colleagues are making a tragic mistake.”
The full Senate is expected to take up Neil Gorsuch’s nomination next week, with GOP leadership wanting to confirm him before they leave for a two-week recess.
More than 20 Senate Democrats have come out against his nomination.
Progressive outside groups are demanding that Democrats block Gorsuch, and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has pledged that they will make him get 60 votes.
{mosads}Cornyn signaled on Tuesday that Democrats, who previously lowered the vote threshold for other judicial nominees, were to blame for the current Supreme Court standoff.
“Some of our colleagues remind me of the old story about the child who murders his parents and then comes before the court and asks for liberty saying that I’m an orphan. This is a situation of their own making,” he said.
In 2013, Democrats led by then-Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) lowered the threshold for lower-court nominations to a simple majority.
Republicans are stepping up their rhetorical pressure as they aim to win over enough Democrats to avoid using the “nuclear option” and approve Gorsuch with only 50 votes.
In addition to Cornyn, GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Roy Blunt (Mo.) have spoken from the Senate floor about Gorsuch’s nomination on Tuesday morning.
Republicans have refused to rule out going “nuclear” if Democrats block Gorsuch from getting the 60 votes needed to get over the initial hurdle on his nomination.
Cornyn added on Tuesday that blocking Gorsuch would be an “abuse of power” of the Senate’s rules.
“What our colleagues are doing are basically saying that no nominee of President Trump or any Republican nominee is going to get confirmed to the Supreme Court because they are going to require 60 votes to do so,” he said. “This would be unprecedented in our nation’s history.”
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