--- title: Donald Trump Tells Senate Republicans to End Filibuster description: President Trump backed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's threat to end the filibuster if Democrats oppose his Supreme Court nominee. canonical: https://time.com/4656705/supreme-court-filibuster-donald-trump-neil-gorsuch/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-01T17:17:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:04:41.371Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Thinks Republicans Should Get Rid of the Filibuster og:description: "If we end up with that gridlock, I would say, if you can Mitch, go nuclear." og:url: https://time.com/4656705/supreme-court-filibuster-donald-trump-neil-gorsuch/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39a1976c9a848912/6988b84486f68eaa1e6e35b2/neil-gorsuch.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: President Trump Announces His Supreme Court Nominee og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Thinks Republicans Should Get Rid of the Filibuster twitter:description: "If we end up with that gridlock, I would say, if you can Mitch, go nuclear." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39a1976c9a848912/6988b84486f68eaa1e6e35b2/neil-gorsuch.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Thinks Republicans Should Get Rid of the Filibuster, If They Have to by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Feb 1, 2017 5:17 PM UTC  President Donald Trump (R) shakes hands with Judge Neil Gorsuch after nominating him to the Supreme Court. President Donald Trump (R) shakes hands with Judge Neil Gorsuch after nominating him to the Supreme Court.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Feb 1, 2017 5:17 PM UTC President Trump backed [Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s threat](http://time.com/4655132/democrat-leaders-president-trump-protest-supreme-court-pick/) Wednesday to use the “nuclear option” to approve his Supreme Court nominee [Neil Gorsuch](http://time.com/4656244/neil-gorsuch-scotus-colorado-liberals/) over a Democratic filibuster. Addressing reporters in the Roosevelt Room about the potential of Democrats depriving his nominee of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster, the president said, “If we end up with that gridlock, I would say, if you can Mitch, go nuclear.” The nuclear option was almost completely invoked during the time Senate Democrats were in the majority during the Obama Administration, as the [filibuster was ended](http://articles.latimes.com/2013/nov/21/news/la-ol-judicial-filibuster-dead-now-what-20131121) for all presidential nominations except for the Supreme Court. Senate Republicans are contemplating eliminating the filibuster for the even the High Court if Democrats deprive Gorsuch of a vote. “That would would be an absolute shame if a man of this quality was put up to that neglect. I would say it’s up to Mitch, but I would say, ‘Go for it,'” Trump continued. Democrats are trying to calibrate their opposition to Gorsuch, who Republicans are casting as a “mainstream” selection to the seat opened up after Justice Antonin Scalia’s death. Republicans blocked Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, for more than 10 months, prompting some Democrats to want to exact retribution. But ending the filibuster entirely would deprive Democrats of leverage over future Trump Supreme Court appointments. In interviews, McConnell wouldn’t explicitly address the nuclear option, but repeatedly told Fox News Tuesday night, “We’re going to get the judge confirmed.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4656705/supreme-court-filibuster-donald-trump-neil-gorsuch/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4656705/supreme-court-filibuster-donald-trump-neil-gorsuch/"},"headline":"President Trump Thinks Republicans Should Get Rid of the Filibuster, If They Have to","datePublished":"2017-02-01T17:17:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:04:41.371Z","description":"To get his Supreme Court nominee confirmed","url":"https://time.com/4656705/supreme-court-filibuster-donald-trump-neil-gorsuch/","keywords":["Supreme Court","Congress","Donald Trump","Neil Gorsuch"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39a1976c9a848912/6988b84486f68eaa1e6e35b2/neil-gorsuch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39a1976c9a848912/6988b84486f68eaa1e6e35b2/neil-gorsuch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Announces His Supreme Court Nominee","caption":"President Donald Trump (R) shakes hands with Judge Neil Gorsuch after nominating him to the Supreme Court.","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/supreme-court/","name":"Supreme Court"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4656705/supreme-court-filibuster-donald-trump-neil-gorsuch/","name":"President Trump Thinks Republicans Should Get Rid of the Filibuster, If They Have to"}}]}] ```