Toomey says he’d back Senate rule change to confirm Gorsuch
FILE PHOTO: Sen. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., center, walks towards the Senate on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
(Camp Hill) — Pennsylvania Republican U.S. Senator Pat Toomey says he’d support changing Senate rules to bypass Democratic opposition and confirm Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.
At his appearance today at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference, he also said Democrats have never said Judge Neil Gorsuch ignored or misapplied the law in cases before him.
Toomey last year backed a Republican refusal to consider then-President Barack Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to fill the high court opening.
But, Toomey says this is different.
A Senate confirmation vote is expected late next week.
Unless 60 senators support Gorsuch, Republicans would have to change Senate rules to allow Gorsuch to be confirmed with a simple majority vote in the 100-member Senate.
Getting to 60 votes would require six more Democrats to back Gorsuch.
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