How Democrats can lose well on the Gorsuch nomination

They probably cannot keep Neil Gorsuch off the Supreme Court. But they should still go down swinging.

An upside for Democrats.
(Image credit: REUTERS/James Lawler Duggan)

Democrats are not going to stop Neil Gorsuch from getting on the Supreme Court. That's the sad truth. But it doesn't mean they can't or shouldn't fight his nomination anyway, because they can and they should. When their effort falls short, Democrats should at least know that they lost well.

Their inability to stop this nomination is a matter of simple math. Republicans have 52 members in the Senate, and every single one of them will vote to confirm Gorsuch. Democrats can filibuster the nomination — an unusual though not unprecedented move — if they can muster 41 of their 48 members to do so, which at this point is not a sure thing. If they do that, Republicans will hold a vote to change Senate rules to require only 51 votes for the confirmation of Supreme Court justices (the so-called "nuclear option"), and then they'll get Gorsuch confirmed that way.

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Paul Waldman

Paul Waldman is a senior writer with The American Prospect magazine and a blogger for The Washington Post. His writing has appeared in dozens of newspapers, magazines, and web sites, and he is the author or co-author of four books on media and politics.