Cornyn: More Democrats Refuse to Go Along With Gorsuch Filibuster

Today I highlighted Senate Democrats who have indicated they will not go along with their leadership’s strategy to attempt the first successful partisan filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee in our nation’s history. Excerpts of my remarks are below, and video of my remarks can be found here.

As the nation saw back during the 20 hours of hearings that we had before the Judiciary Committee, I think people saw the real Neil Gorsuch, somebody who, again, by virtue of his qualifications, his education, his training, and his temperament and experience, is extremely qualified to serve on the Supreme Court. He did pass every single test with flying colors, even as my colleagues and some activist groups have done their best to find ways to object to what may be the one of the most qualified candidates for the Court in our nation’s history.

The question for our Democratic friends is whether or not they're going to launch the very first partisan filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee in the history of the United States.

I understand the pressure that our friend the Democratic Leader is under, because after this last election, he's now had to straddle two competing camps within the Democratic Party.

And I understand the pressures that he must feel and the reason why he would do something that is unprecedented and suggest that we filibuster this nomination. Well, we already know that some members of his conference have said they will agree to an up-or-down vote. Our friend from West Virginia, Senator Manchin, has said he opposes the filibuster. Senator Leahy, the former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has said he's not inclined to go along with it either. Senator Cardin, our colleague and friend from Maryland, has stopped short of agreeing with the Minority Leader's strategy. And Senator Heitkamp from North Dakota has said that she believes the nominee deserves an up-or-down vote.

If Judge Gorsuch is not acceptable to them, is there ever going to be a nominee from a Trump Administration that you would find acceptable? They tried to find fault with Judge Gorsuch, and they have simply been unable to do so. And so they keep moving the goal post and raising different issues because they, frankly, are desperate to find some reason to justify this unprecedented filibuster.

If Democrats block Judge Gorsuch from receiving an up-or-down vote, then there's simply no Republican nominee to the United States Supreme Court that they won't filibuster.