News / Politics

US Senate Democrats say they have enough votes to filibuster Gorsuch

Monday, 03 April 2017 7:35 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 04 April 2017 4:52 AM ]

Judge Neil Gorsuch (L) greets an attendee during the third day of his Supreme Court confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, March 22, 2017 in Washington. (Photo by AFP)

Democratic lawmakers in the US Senate say they have secured enough votes to filibuster the nominee of President Donald Trump for the Supreme Court.

The minority party gained the 41 votes required for a filibuster after more Democrats threw their support behind the measure on Monday.

Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein, Patrick J. Leahy, Christopher A. Coons and Mark R. Warner indicated that they would join other party members in rejection of Judge Neil Gorsuch.

The judge has been accused of being “evasive” during his Senate Judiciary Committee’s marathon hearing.

Senator Patrick Leahy takes a photo on the West Front of the US Capitol on January 19, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by AFP)

“I cannot recall a nominee refusing to answer such basic questions about the principles underlying our Constitution and about how he interprets those principles,” Leahy said. “These are fundamental questions that we should ask every nominee seeking a lifetime appointment to our highest court.”

The Senate’s longest-serving member further asserted that selecting a nominee for the powerful seat should be done out of conscience.

“I cannot vote solely to protect an institution when the rights of hard-working Americans are at risk,” he said. “Because I fear that the Senate I would be defending no longer exists.”

The nominee's hearing was supposed to continue Tuesday morning after members of the Senate Judiciary Committee decided to move the high court nomination to the full Senate.

Senator John Cornyn speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill on March 14, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by AFP)

“I disagree with those who somehow say this is the end of the Senate as we know it,” said Texas Republican Senator Whip John Cornyn. “This is a restoration of the status quo ante before our Democratic colleagues directed this artificial 60-vote requirement.”

His colleague from South Carolina, Republican Senator Lindsey O. Graham, also expressed concerns about the future of the country following the decision, stating that “We are headed to a world where you don’t need one person from the other side to pick a judge… And what does that mean? That means the judges are going to be more ideological, not less. It means that every Senate seat is going to be a referendum on the Supreme Court … The damage done to the Senate is going to be real.”

Gorsuch is a judge on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, picked by Trump to fill the long-vacant ninth position of Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016.

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