Trump urges GOP to confirm court pick at all costs

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump urged Senate Republican leaders Wednesday to be prepared to tear up the rules of the Senate and 'go nuclear” if Democrats try to block his Supreme Court nominee from winning confirmation - complicating the beginning of Judge Neil Gorsuch's courtship of the lawmakers who will decide his fate.

As Gorsuch began a series of meetings on Capitol Hill, Trump said at the White House that if the gridlock of recent years persists in the Senate, Republicans should move to change the rules of the chamber to permit confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee with a simple majority.

'I would say, ‘If you can, Mitch, go nuclear,'' Trump said, referring to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. '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.'”

Some Democrats are pushing to block Gorsuch, citing not only Republicans' refusal last year to move ahead with then-President Barack Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, but also their concern about the constitutionality of Trump's travel ban on refugees and foreign nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries.

But coming on a day when some key Democratic senators from conservative states signaled openness to voting for Gorsuch, Trump's words threw a divisive wrench into efforts to improve bipartisan relations.

Many Republican senators sought to distance themselves from Trump's talk of going 'nuclear” - a phrase used to refer to a change in Senate rules that would allow a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court without a supermajority vote.

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who chairs the Judiciary Committee that will hold confirmation hearings, declined to say Wednesday whether he would support a move to eliminate the possibility of a filibuster.

'We on the majority side are not going to get involved with any discussion whatsoever of changing the rules ...,” Grassley said, noting that Republicans did not obstruct two Supreme Court nominees from President Bill Clinton and two from President Barack Obama, and he didn't expect Democrats to do it now.

Asked if that meant the option was still on the table, Grassley, who met Wednesday with Gorsuch, replied: 'It shouldn't be interpreted in any way except we aren't going to talk about it or encourage you to write about it.”

Republican leaders are hopeful they can secure the eight crossover votes needed to overcome resistance without changing Senate rules, which can require a 60-vote majority for Supreme Court confirmations.

'I don't think it's going to be necessary,” said GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, McConnell's top deputy.

Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a centrist Democrat who remains open to voting for Gorsuch, said the nuclear option is 'wrong.”

Other Democrats were more hostile to the nominee. In a speech on the Senate floor, Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York accused Gorsuch of favoring corporate interests over regular people and injecting a conservative ideology into his rulings.

The White House asked that Gorsuch meet with Schumer, but aides said the senator declined to learn more first about the nominee's record.

Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, a potential swing vote, said he is 'quite concerned” about Gorsuch's views on voting rights and campaign finance laws.

Senate Republicans offered strong praise for Gorsuch, whom they have sought to label as 'mainstream,” in an effort to counter the Democratic criticism.

The Washington Post and Ed Tibbetts of the Quad City Times contributed to this report.