BOSTON (AP) - U.S. Sen. Edward Markey says changing Senate rules to secure confirmation for Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch would set a “terrible precedent.”
The Massachusetts Democrat is among 41 senators on record as opposing Gorsuch, enough to block the nomination under current rules that require 60 votes.
But Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is expected to push for a rules change, known on Capitol Hill as the “nuclear option,” to allow confirmation by a simple majority vote.
In Boston Monday, Markey said such a change would come back to haunt the Supreme Court in the future, while also leading to further partisan polarization in the Senate.
Markey says the problem isn’t with the process but with the candidate, arguing that Gorsuch is “outside the mainstream of American jurisprudence.”
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