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Trump endorses 'nuclear option' to confirm his Supreme Court pick

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday urged Republicans to use all tools at their disposal to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court — including tearing up the rules of the U.S. Senate if Democrats try blocking his nominee.

Speaking with conservative activists supporting the nomination during a White House meeting as Gorsuch held his first round of meetings on Capitol Hill, Trump said that if the gridlock of recent years persists in the Senate, Republicans should change the rules of the body to permit the confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee with a simple majority vote.

"I would say, 'If you can, Mitch, go nuclear.' Because that would be an absolute shame if a man of this quality was put up to that neglect. I would say it's up to Mitch, but I would say, 'Go for it,' " Trump told reporters at the White House.

By urging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), and his fellow Republicans to "go nuclear," Trump meant they should break the Senate's long-standing tradition of requiring a bipartisan supermajority to change the chamber's rules and instead allow the majority party to change the rules and allow nominees to be confirmed by a simple majority of senators.

Trump interjected himself once again into a complicated and years-long dispute between senators that has its basis in previous protracted confirmation fights over judicial appointments made by George W. Bush and Barack Obama. And Trump's comments came as Gorsuch was beginning a series of courtesy calls on Capitol Hill.

Accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence when he arrived on Capitol Hill, Gorsuch began a round of meetings with McConnell, his deputy, Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas), and Sens. Charles Grassley (R., Iowa), Orrin Hatch (R., Utah) and Cory Gardner (R., Colo.).

"The president made an outstanding appointment; we're all thrilled and looking forward to getting the confirmation process started," McConnell said.

The White House asked that Gorsuch meet with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.), but aides said he declined in order to learn more first about the nominee's record. Gorsuch may also meet Wednesday with Sen. Michael Bennet (D., Colo.), said Ron Bonjean, a spokesman for the judge.

The contrasting approaches to Gorsuch on his first full day as the nominee underscored the politically charged fight quickly forming around him. It is shaping up as one of the defining battles of Trump's nascent presidency.

Republicans are hoping to confirm the U.S. Court of Appeals judge by early April, before a two-week Easter recess, which would clear the way for him to participate in the final cases of the court's term ending in June. But Democrats already are ramping up their opposition efforts.

"We must insist upon a strong mainstream consensus candidate because this Supreme Court will be tried in ways that few courts have been tested since the earliest days of the republic," Schumer said Wednesday, adding later that "This administration seems to have little regard for the rule of law and is likely to test the Constitution in ways it hasn't been challenged in decades."

Schumer and several colleagues have declared that Gorsuch should expect to need to earn at least 60 votes to clear procedural hurdles to reach a final confirmation vote. Republicans hold 52 seats in the Senate.

"I plan to stand up for individuals over corporations and oppose his nomination, and I will insist that his nomination meet a traditional 60-vote threshold," Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.) said Wednesday, echoing the views of other liberal senators.

But at the center of the political battle over Gorsuch are a handful of Democratic senators who could be persuaded by fellow Democrats or Republicans.

"I think he should not be treated as Obama's nominee was treated; he should be given a hearing and a vote in committee," Sen. Christopher Coons (D., Del.) said Wednesday morning, referring to Judge Merrick Garland, whom Republicans blocked from being put on the high court last year. "Let's follow the process, let's do what didn't happen last year."

Unlike Schumer, Coons didn't endorse forcing Gorsuch to face a 60-vote threshold for advancement. But he acknowledged that it probably is the bar Gorsuch will have to clear.

Republican leaders have publicly pressured Democrats to allow Gorsuch a simple up-or-down vote without having to win a supermajority first. They have been agonizing over whether to change long-standing Senate rules to break Democratic resistance, should it come to that point.

GOP leaders are already feeling the heat from Trump and supporters yearning to swiftly add a conservative voice to the court for the first time since George W. Bush's presidency.

"Listen, I don't disagree with the idea that the Senate has a tradition of unlimited debate," said Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee on courts, intellectual property and the Internet. "But you get your butt on the floor and you stand there for the unlimited debate. What it has devolved to is undemocratic."

Most senators don't know Gorsuch well. Just 31 of them were in office in July 2006 when he was confirmed without opposition to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, which has jurisdiction over all or parts of eight western states.

Gorsuch's first call after being nominated was to Garland, "out of respect," Bonjean said.

After his meeting with McConnell, Pence walked Gorsuch around the Capitol, stopping in the Rotunda, where he took a picture with high school students who work as Senate pages. Gorsuch, who grew up in Colorado and Washington, D.C., once served as a page, said an adult supervisor of the pages.

On his way out of the Rotunda, a group of eighth-grade girls from a school in Bethesda, Maryland, waved and told him "congratulations." He shook one of their hands and said: "Thank you very much. Someday you'll be doing this."