Panel expected to back Trump high court pick

The judiciary panel is set to approve Gorsuch for a full voteThe US Senate Judiciary Committee was expected yesterday to approve President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, for a full Senate vote later in the week, setting up a political showdown as Democrats work to block his confirmation.Republicans hold a 11-9 majority on the committee, which held a four-day confirmation hearing last month, and control the Senate by a 52-48 margin.Democrats are planning to use a procedural hurdle called a filibuster that requires a super-majority of 60 votes in the 100-seat Senate to cut off debate and allow a confirmation vote.The actual confirmation vote would be by a simple majority if the filibuster is stopped. So far, 37 Democrats have backed such a move.To date, three Democrats have said they support Gorsuch, and the Republicans would have to secure eight Democratic votes to kill a filibuster.If confirmed to fill a vacancy created by the February 2016 death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, Gorsuch, 49, a federal appeals court judge from Colorado, would restore the nine-seat high court’s conservative majority, fulfilling one of Trump’s top campaign promises.Republican Senate leaders insist Gorsuch will be confirmed on Friday regardless of what the Democrats do.“What I can tell you is Neil Gorsuch will be confirmed this week.How that happens really depends on our Democratic friends,” Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer said on Meet the Press on Sunday that it was “highly, highly unlikely” that Republicans would get 60 votes.If Republicans cannot win over eight Democrats, McConnell could force a vote by changing long-standing Senate rules to allow for a simple majority vote for confirmation of Supreme Court justices, a move sometimes called the “nuclear option” that Trump has urged.While Gorsuch’s opponents would fight such a rule change, it was the Democrats who in 2013 changed the Senate rules to limit filibusters after Republican use of the procedure against nominees selected by Democratic former President Barack Obama.The Senate, then led by Democrats, barred filibusters for executive branch nominees and federal judges aside from Supreme Court justices.Many Democrats have accused Republicans of “stealing” a supreme court seat because the Republican-led Senate refused last year to consider Obama’s nomination of appellate judge Merrick Garland to fill Scalia’s seat.Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Judiciary Committee who opposes Gorsuch, spoke out against any potential deal in the Senate in which Democrats would agree not to filibuster Gorsuch if Republicans agreed to maintain the 60-vote super-majority for the next Supreme Court nominee.“I will not accept a deal that preserves the 60-vote threshold at the cost of having on the court someone who refuses to say whether he agrees with core constitutional precepts protecting privacy, equality under the law, and protections for workers and consumers, and clean air and water,” Blumenthal told MSNBC.Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, also a member of the committee, said he would support using the “nuclear option” to overcome Democratic objections to Gorsuch but hoped such a move would not be necessary.“This is a guy who’s a mainstream conservative,” Hatch told CNN, adding that Democrats were seeking payback over Republicans’ blocking of Garland.“We can’t let them just stop one of the best nominees ever nominated to the Supreme Court because their far left constituencies are screaming and shouting,” Hatch said.Republicans have defended Gorsuch as well qualified for the lifetime job as a Supreme Court justice and praised his performance during the confirmation hearings.Democrats have accused Gorsuch of being insufficiently independent of Trump, evading questions on key Supreme Court rulings of the past including on abortion and political spending, and favouring corporate interests over ordinary Americans.Gorsuch, if confirmed, would immediately be thrust into the high court’s current term, which runs from October to June.If he is confirmed on Friday, he would be able to participate in the court’s next round of oral arguments in pending cases, starting on April 17