Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware predicted Monday that Republicans will “almost certainly” have to resort to the “nuclear” option to approve the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Mr. Coons, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which held four days of hearings on the Gorsuch nomination, doesn’t envision Democrats crossing party lines to vote in favor of President Trump’s nominee.
“He will get an up or down vote. Sen. Schumer, our minority leader, has said it is going to be a 60-vote margin, and I doubt he is going to get 60 votes. The question then, Joe, becomes: What do we?” Mr. Coons told host Joe Scarborough on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Mr. Coons said lingering divisions between the two parties have poisoned the debate over Judge Gorsuch.
He said Democrats are mad that Senate Republicans refused to hold hearings on Judge Merrick Garland, then-President Barack Obama’s pick to fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
He said Republicans are mad over how Democrats resorted to the “nuclear” option in 2013 — allowing them to approve some of Mr. Obama’s executive branch and judicial nominees to lower courts through a simple majority vote.
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Mr. Coons said Judge Gorsuch received something that Judge Garland did not: a fair hearing.
“He is a charming man, he has a good resume, he has strong qualifications in terms of education, his service on the court, but he would be by some measures the most conservative justice on the Supreme Court,” Mr. Coons said.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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