The U.S. Senate this morning confirmed Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court on a mostly partisan 54-45 vote.
But Democrats were unable to pull back from the brink, partly because they remain livid over McConnell's decision past year to block Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, who was denied even a hearing after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016.
Vice President Pence presided over the vote in his role of president of the Senate.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama appointed Merrick Garland to fill the nine-seat bench, but the GOP-controlled Senate refused to hear or to vote on the nomination, saying it was improper for an outgoing president to appoint a Supreme Court Justice.
Loewy said he was "pleasantly surprised" that Trump nominated someone as qualified as Gorsuch, adding that, "I think it was extremely unwise of Democrats to make such a fuss about this nomination". When Senate Republicans were unable to muster 60 votes to overcome the filibuster, they set in motion the "nuclear option", which changes the rules for cloture, bringing the vote down from a supermajority to a simple majority. Schumer also attempted to adjourn until the evening, but was unsuccessful.
Friday's confirmation vote was anticlimactic.
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Ted Cruz of Texas to campaign in Wichita for Estes, and both Vice President Mike Pence and Trump recorded robo calls for him. But he also said he didn't vote for Trump in the presidential election because he doesn't "believe in the party line".
But many Democrats argued that Gorsuch's record was too conservative and that he failed to answer key questions about his judicial record during his Senate hearing last month.
"We will sadly point to today as a turning point in the history of the Senate and the Supreme Court", declared Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of NY.
Some Republicans even credit the Supreme Court vacancy as one reason Trump won the November election.
"In fact, under a certain scenario, there could even be more than that", Trump said. The victory gives President Donald Trump's 49-year-old nominee a lifetime spot on the court and his party a much-needed political win after failing to pass legislation on health care and other issues. There is no way to know how many there will be, if any, but several justices are quite elderly.
"I am very concerned about the future, which will then, with only a 51-vote majority required, lead to polarization of the nominees as far as their philosophies are concerned, when the majority does not have to consider the concerns and the votes of the minority", McCain said, though he voted with McConnell and the rest of the Republicans to lower the vote threshold.
After the confirmation, Arkansas lawmakers responded to the decision. That unusual external review omitted consultation with Senate Democrats, contributing to bitter Democrat complaints about the way the whole process was handled. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. signals a thumbs-up as he leaves the Senate chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, April 6, 2017, after he led the GOP majority to change Senate rules.
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