By Eric Stock
WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said there are no good options for Democrats who want to keep President Donald Trump’s nominee, Neil Gorsuch, from being confirmed to the nation’s highest court.
Durbin told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin and Patti Penn, Gorsuch doesn’t have the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster and Republicans have vowed to use the unclear option to permanently remove that threshold.
PODCAST: Listen to Scott’s interview with Durbin on WJBC.
“We are postponing the inevitable,” Durbin said. “We think Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, will play this card either this time or the next time or whenever it’s necessary to make sure Republicans can keep filling these seats on the court.”
Durbin said he expects Gorsuch will ultimately be confirmed. Democrats previously invoked the nuclear option on lower court appointments.
Supreme Court scholar Bob Bradley, a retired politics and government professor at Illinois State University, said the fight over Gorsuch’s expected conformation is nothing but political theater.
Bradley said even though Democrats can’t block the nomination, they feel empowered after recently helping to prevent the GOP’s overhaul of Obamacare.
PODCAST: Listen to Scott’s interview with Bradley on WJBC.
“The other phenomenon that has happened throughout the nation that hasn’t gotten the attention they probably should are the town hall meetings that have occurred,” Bradley said. “Those meetings have been very effective in showing the Republicans they may not be as strong as they thought they were.”
Bradley added the constant gridlock in Washington and Springfield make it difficult to convince students they should get involved in the political process.
Eric Stock can be reached at eric.stock@cumulus.com.
