As a vote to confirm President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee draws nearer, Democrat leaders in the U.S. Senate are vowing to filibuster the process. If that happens, Alabama’s Republican Senators say they have no hesitation with using the “nuclear option” to force a confirmation.
The so-called nuclear option would change current Senate rules, which require 60 votes to break a filibuster. Under the proposed GOP rule change, only 50 would be required to push through a vote on Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.
During an appearance on Fox News Monday, Senator Luther Strange said that he “fully supports” invoking the nuclear option, because Democrats “simply want to obstruct the president’s agenda.”
“Every judge nominated to the Supreme Court has had the opportunity, with a very rare exception, to get an up or down vote,” Sen. Strange said. “Even Clarence Thomas, and the controversial days of his nomination, got an up or down vote in a Democrat-controlled Senate.”
Strange added that he believed Gorsuch’s nomination shouldn’t be as controversial as the left is making it out to be.
“Neil Gorsuch is as mainstream of a conservative and as qualified a person as you can find in the country,” he said. “If he’s not acceptable, the idea that we can go back and find someone else I think is kind of a fantasy.”
Senator Richard Shelby echoed Strange’s frustration with the Democrat’s threats against Gorsuch.
“I think he’s a great choice,” Sen. Shelby told WHNT in an interview. “I think he’s as good as we’re going to get. This is important. He’s conservative. He’s well-educated. He’s smart. And we need him.”
He went on to tell the station that he would prefer that Democrats “step aside” without a filibuster.
“I believe at the end of the week, we’re going to confirm him one way or the other,” he said.
A final vote is expected on Gorsuch’s nomination this week.
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