POLITICS/SUPREME COURT/TRUMP PEOPLE/NEIL GORSUCH: “More than a year of tension over an empty Supreme Court seat comes to a dramatic climax Thursday [4-6-17], when both parties in the Senate are poised to take action leading to an outcome neither party wants.
It’s a head-scratching situation loaded with nuance, procedural twists and Senate history — not to mention a spot on the nation’s highest court — and a standoff that reflects a peak in polarization following a deeply divisive presidential election.
The question is whether there will be any last-minute surprises to a long-running quarrel that’s failed to yield any agreements, despite bipartisan talks behind the scenes.
Republicans are positioned to use the nuclear option Thursday to make a permanent and controversial change in Senate rules and overcome a Democratic filibuster of Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court.
Both sides are crying foul.
Democrats want Republicans to pick another nominee.
Republicans want Democrats to show more bipartisanship and allow Gorsuch to advance through the process.
And no one wants a change in the rules because it could lead to even more partisan animosity down the road, forever changing a historic element of the Senate.”
-Ashley Killough and Ted Barrett, “Democrats vote to filibuster Gorsuch in first act of nuclear showdown,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, April 6, 2017