Dem Senator Claims if a Trump's Conservative Supreme Court Nominee Replaces the Last Conservative, the Courts 'Illegitimate'

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said on New Day Thursday that if the Senate confirmed Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination, then “every 5-4 decision will be one we’ll look and say, ‘well, it’s not really legitimate.’”



Merkley went on to say that Gorsuch will not be “legitimate” in any of his decisions.


Regarding Senate Republicans’ threat to invoke the ‘nuclear’ option if Merkley and Democrats filibuster Gorsuch, the Oregon senator criticized the GOP for endangering the “the integrity of the Senate.”


“If we change it to a simple majority, what it means is that the next president will have an easier time of getting their court nominees confirmed and might be tempted to go even further to the left or the right,” Merkley said.


Merkley did not comment on how the first filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee would affect “the integrity of the Senate.”