Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., maintained President Donald Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch, will need 60 votes to clear the Senate, The Hill reported.
"We Democrats will insist on a rigorous but fair process," said Schumer, the Senate minority leader. "There will be 60 votes for confirmation."
Requiring 60 votes is "the right thing to do," he added.
Trump's pick of Gorsuch has already touched-off a battle among lawmakers, The Hill reported. Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren, (Mass) and Jeff Merkley (Oregon) are among those who have already announced their opposition to the conservative jurist.
Meanwhile, Schumer defended his push to require Gorsuch to get 60 votes.
"It was a bar met by each of President Obama's nominations," he said. "In my mind 60 votes is the appropriate way to go whether there is a Democratic president or a Republican president, a Democratic Senate or a Republican Senate."
And he indicated that if Gorsuch is unable to get 60 votes, the "problem is with the president's pick."
If that happens, "the answer should not be to change the rules of the Senate, but to change the nominee to a mainstream candidate," Schumer said.
To reach the 60-vote hurdle, Gorsuch will need at least eight Democrats to join Republicans in voting for his confirmation "unless GOP leaders take the potentially risky step of lowering the threshold for confirmation" Fox News reported.
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