By: Jade Rayner
News Editor

On the evening of April 4, 2017, Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley took the Senate floor, and proceeded to hold it for the next 15 hours in protest of Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil M. Gorsuch.

The New York Times described it as, “It was the filibuster before the filibuster. Sort of.”

A filibuster is an action, generally a prolonged speech, that obstructs any progress in a legislative assembly, while not technically breaking the required procedures.

In this case, “Mr. Merkley’s effort was not technically a filibuster, as the senator was not actually delaying anything” the New York Times said of the event.

According to ABC News, “Gorsuch’s nomination was marred by partisan battle in the Senate, during which Democrats attained enough votes to block him until Republicans employed the ‘nuclear option’ to end floor debate on the judge by a simple majority rather than by 60 votes.”

As of Friday, April 7, the United States Senate confirmed that Judge Gorsuch would be the 113th member of the Supreme Court with the final vote being 54-45 in favor of Gorsuch; after almost 14 months since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, all nine chairs of the court are filled.

Contact the author at journalnews@wou.edu