Vote expected Friday on Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch

WASHINGTON — Judge Neil Gorsuch is expected to be confirmed Friday as the newest associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court after a showdown in the Senate on Thursday resulted in the detonation of the so-called “nuclear option,” a change in Senate rules.

A vote taken Thursday morning for cloture — ending debate on the confirmation and bringing the nomination to a vote — had the support of 55 senators, but didn’t reach the 60-vote total needed to pass the motion. That set into motion a series of parliamentary procedures and votes that resulted in a final 55-45 vote to bring the nomination to a decision.

“Judge Gorsuch is a principled jurist who is steadfast in his commitment to defending the Constitution,” U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., said. “Democrats have agreed, and they confirmed Judge Gorsuch without objection in 2006. That’s why it is ridiculous Democrats today put self-interest and party-interest ahead of the nation’s interest.

“Republicans this year have said all along we’ll do what it takes to get Judge Gorsuch the up-or-down vote he deserves, and next week he will be an associate justice on the United States Supreme Court.”

U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said he was disappointed that the Senate had failed to pass the first cloture motion.

“Judge Gorsuch is an exceptional nominee with the right judicial temperament and a strong reliance on the text of our Constitution and laws,” Isakson said. “I am extremely disappointed by the blind obstruction carried out by Senate Democrats today. The Senate and our country are headed in a dangerous direction if this type of partisan behavior continues.

“Though I had hoped that my Democrat colleagues might be willing to put country over party and do the right thing here today, there is no reason for further delay of the Senate’s consideration of Judge Gorsuch. I urge the Senate to move quickly toward a final vote on his nomination to fill this critical vacancy.”

That is what happened. After the initial cloture vote failed to achieve the supermajority needed, a series of moves resulted in a Senate vote on whether the nomination of a Supreme Court justice fell under the Senate’s Nov. 21, 2013, action under Democratic control that made all executive branch and judicial appointments except to the high court confirmable with simple majority votes of the Senate.

When the Senate chair ruled that Supreme Court nominations were not covered by the 2013 action, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called for a vote on whether the decision by the chair — which would have maintained the 60-vote majority needed to invoke cloture — should stand. Senators voted 52-48 that it should not. That led to the second cloture vote that passed 55-45, with three Democrats — Sens. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heidi Heitkemp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin III of Wisonsin — joining the 52 GOP senators on the final vote.

The vote on Gorsuch expected Friday would bring to an end a yearlong partisan saga that began with the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative voice on the court, while on a hunting trip in Texas on Feb. 13, 2016.

Then-President Barack Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland for the vacant seat, but Senate Republicans refused to bring the nomination to a vote, saying they would keep the court seat vacant until a new president was sworn in.

After Donald Trump took office in January, he nominated Gorsuch for the vacancy on Jan. 31.