McConnell Invokes Nuclear Option, Eliminates Filibuster for Supreme Court Nominees, Gorsuch Confirmed 54-45

On April 6, 2017, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell invoked the “nuclear option”—a parliamentary procedure to change Senate rules by simple majority vote—to eliminate the 60-vote filibuster requirement for Supreme Court nominations, lowering the threshold to a simple 51-vote majority. The following day, April 7, 2017, the Senate confirmed Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court by a vote of 54-45, filling the seat that Merrick Garland should have occupied. The rule change permanently transformed Supreme Court confirmations from requiring bipartisan consensus to allowing purely partisan appointments, enabling the subsequent confirmations of Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett and creating a 6-3 conservative supermajority that would reshape American law for decades.

Democrats Block Gorsuch, Republicans Eliminate Filibuster

When Democrats attempted to filibuster Gorsuch’s nomination—in retaliation for McConnell’s unprecedented year-long blockade of Merrick Garland—Republicans lacked the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture and end debate. Senate Democrats voted 55-45 on near party-line grounds to sustain a filibuster of Gorsuch’s nomination, with only three Democrats (Joe Manchin, Heidi Heitkamp, and Joe Donnelly) voting with Republicans. Rather than negotiate or seek a compromise nominee who could earn bipartisan support, McConnell chose to permanently change Senate rules. On April 6, McConnell made a point of order that ending debate on Supreme Court nominations required only a simple majority; when the presiding officer ruled against him per existing Senate rules, McConnell moved to overturn that ruling—a parliamentary maneuver that passed along party lines and became known as the “nuclear option.”

“This Will Be the First, and Last, Partisan Filibuster”

McConnell declared after changing the rules: “This will be the first, and last, partisan filibuster of a Supreme Court justice.” His statement revealed the fundamental hypocrisy of the nuclear option—McConnell characterized Democratic opposition to Gorsuch as “partisan” while ignoring that Gorsuch was only being nominated because of McConnell’s own partisan blockade of Garland. The rule change built upon Harry Reid’s 2013 nuclear option, which had eliminated the filibuster for lower court and executive branch nominees in response to unprecedented Republican obstruction of Obama’s judicial appointments. But extending the nuclear option to Supreme Court nominees represented a far more consequential change—Supreme Court justices serve for life and shape constitutional law for generations.

Gorsuch Fills Stolen Seat, Enables Future Confirmations

On April 7, 2017, the Senate confirmed Neil Gorsuch by a vote of 54-45, well short of the 60 votes that would have been required under traditional rules. Gorsuch’s confirmation filled the seat that should have gone to Merrick Garland, completing the theft of a Supreme Court seat that began with Scalia’s death in February 2016. Critically, the elimination of the filibuster enabled McConnell to confirm Brett Kavanaugh in 2018 despite credible sexual assault allegations and obvious temperament problems—Kavanaugh would have never survived a 60-vote threshold requiring bipartisan support. Similarly, Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation in 2020 just days before the election became possible only because McConnell had eliminated the filibuster requirement in 2017. The nuclear option transformed Supreme Court appointments from requiring consensus to enabling purely partisan confirmations.

Significance

McConnell’s elimination of the Supreme Court filibuster on April 6, 2017, represents one of the most consequential institutional changes in modern Senate history, permanently transforming how Supreme Court justices are confirmed and enabling a conservative supermajority built on stolen seats and partisan obstruction. The rule change was necessary only because McConnell had stolen Garland’s seat through unprecedented obstruction—if Obama had been allowed to fill Scalia’s vacancy in 2016, Democrats would have had no reason to filibuster Gorsuch. By eliminating the 60-vote threshold, McConnell removed the last institutional check requiring Supreme Court nominees to earn bipartisan support, replacing consensus-building with raw partisan power. The consequences were immediate and profound: Gorsuch’s confirmation created a 5-4 conservative majority; Kavanaugh’s confirmation (enabled by the nuclear option) expanded it to 5-4; Barrett’s confirmation (also enabled by the nuclear option) created the 6-3 supermajority that would overturn Roe v. Wade, grant sweeping presidential immunity, eliminate Chevron deference, and systematically dismantle progressive precedents. The nuclear option transformed the Supreme Court from an institution requiring bipartisan legitimacy to one that could be captured through partisan manipulation—exactly what McConnell intended when he changed the rules to confirm a justice filling a stolen seat.