In 2017, Senate Republicans extended the nuclear option to eliminate the 60-vote threshold for Supreme Court justice nominations.
Notes on verification
Well-documented event confirmed by numerous independent, high-quality contemporaneous news sources including CBS, NBC, CNN, NPR, and PBS/AP.
Sources
- The federal shutdown and the Senate filibuster: What could happen now? | Donald Trump News | Al Jazeera (aljazeera.com)
- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/neil-gorsuch-confirmation-vote-process-begins-live-updates/ (cbsnews.com)
- https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/06/politics/senate-nuclear-option-neil-gorsuch/ (cnn.com)
- https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-democrats-block-neil-gorsuch-s-supreme-court-nomination-n743326 (nbcnews.com)
- https://www.npr.org/2017/04/06/522847700/senate-pulls-nuclear-trigger-to-ease-gorsuch-confirmation (npr.org)
- https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/mcconnell-went-nuclear-confirm-gorsuch-democrats-changed-senate-filibuster-rules-n887271 (nbcnews.com)
- https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/senate-gop-invokes-nuclear-option-clearing-way-supreme-court-nominee-neil-gorsuch (pbs.org)
- https://www.scotusblog.com/2017/04/senate-confirms-gorsuch (scotusblog.com)