“The Senate has taken a dangerous step by removing the longstanding requirement that a nominee to the Supreme Court must garner 60 votes for confirmation. A 60-vote majority ensures that the court will have bipartisan support, that the Senate can check and balance the power of the president, and that the nominee has demonstrated they are open-minded, committed to fairness, and won’t judge cases based on a partisan political agenda.

“Judge Neil Gorsuch, on the contrary, was hand-picked by the right wing to be on the Supreme Court, at the behest of presidential candidate Donald Trump. His views are far beyond the right of the legal mainstream and threaten women, LGBTQ individuals, racial and religious minorities, workers, and everyday people who try to obtain justice through our courts in the face of powerful economic interests and extreme ideologues.

“Today the Senate leadership has shown a willful disregard for a process that has at least held out the promise of balance on the court in a time when there are deep divisions in the country. Perhaps after the total blockade by the GOP majority of any consideration of Judge Merrick Garland, nominated a year ago by President Obama, this turn of events is not surprising. But it bodes ill for the future of the rule of law in the United States.”

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