Sen. Jeff Merkley spoke for more than 15 hours from the Senate floor, laying out his arguments overnight against Neil Gorsuch ahead of a tense showdown over President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee at the end of the week.
The Oregon Democrat’s marathon — with a brief assist from Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois early Wednesday morning — wrapped up shortly after 10 a.m. ET.
His talk-a-thon does nothing to stall a vote on Gorsuch because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had already taken the procedural step to lock in a time to vote to end debate over Gorsuch.
While Democrats have enough votes to carry out a real filibuster that actually would delay a vote, McConnell said Wednesday that Republicans, who hold a 52-48 majority, have enough votes to overcome that filibuster using the nuclear option and move to a final confirmation vote Friday.
Merkley was one of the first Democrats earlier this year to pledge that his party would mount the filibuster, meaning he was confident they could get the 41 votes needed to sustain it.
On the floor, Merkley has argued that Gorsuch is not a mainstream nominee and blasted Republicans for blocking consideration of President Barack Obama’s nominee of Merrick Garland last year.
“For the first time in U.S. history, a seat has been stolen from one president and delivered to another in a court packing scheme,” Merkley said around 4 a.m. ET. “And if that were to succeed, it would set a precedent that will haunt the court for decades to come. And it will haunt this body, the Senate, because if a theft succeeds then it changes the analysis of every future Supreme Court vacancy.”
He and other Democrats have also focused on individual cases in which they felt Gorsuch was unfair to the “little guy” and sided too often with government or corporations.
Republicans, hitting back against the argument that he’s extreme, say Gorsuch sided with the majority in 99% of his opinions as a federal judge in the past decade, and the GOP said that of the 2,700 cases he has ruled on, 97% were decided unanimously.
Merkley made his closing argument shortly after 10 a.m. ET, also calling for the investigations into Trump’s campaign ties to Russia to conclude before Gorsuch is further considered.
Following his remarks, Merkley went directly to the restroom. He gave the thumbs up to reporters after CNN asked how the senator was doing.