McConnell made have swapped a Supreme Court justice that doesn't change the balance of the court for giving Senate Democrats the power to confirm future liberal Supreme Court justices without a single Republican vote.
Blumenthal and Sen. Chris Murphy both opposed the confirmation, saying they doubted Gorsuch's independence from the White House and were concerned about his "originalist" leanings.
Gorsuch's nomination was confirmed after the Republicans voted to trigger the "nuclear option", which changed the rules of the Senate.
Gorsuch becomes the ninth member of the current Supreme Court, filling a seat vacant for more than a year after Justice Antonin Scalia died a little more than a year ago.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., talks to reporters before the vote to confirm President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, April 7, 2017.
"Judge Gorsuch is now Justice Gorsuch, and I'm glad to see such a distinguished jurist raised to the highest court in the land". After refusing to hold a hearing for Judge Merrick Garland, President Obama's nominee last march, Republicans' strong-arm strategy paid off.
Apple Granted Self-Driving Vehicle Testing Permit In California
Project Titan , as the initiative is commonly referred to, reportedly employed about 1,000 employees at the time of the move. Kenner's letter to the NHTSA, Apple acknowledge that it is working on technologies for self-driving cars.
The final tally was 54-45 in favor of confirmation.
"In fact, under a certain scenario, there could even be more than that", Trump said.
"(Republicans) made history in denying a presidential nominee a hearing and a vote, which had never, never happened before in the history of the United States", said Democrat Dick Durbin of IL.
Gorsuch's confirmation was all-but assured after Republicans changed Senate rules on Thursday and lowered the threshold for a procedural vote on Supreme Court nominees to a simple majority from 60. In the case of voting on Supreme Court justices, the Senate must reach a "cloture" of 60 votes to get to the final vote on the nominee; this standard is set to ensure bipartisan support of a justice.
Gorsuch is "going to make an incredible addition to the court", McConnell said.
What can the American people expect when it comes to Gorsuch's views? The Senate's 52 Republicans threatened to use the nuclear option to break the filibuster and did so on Thursday. "The confirmation of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court is the culmination of a sordid maneuver by Republican Senators to steal a U.S. Supreme Court nomination from a sitting U.S. President who was a Democrat".
Comments