--- title: Neil Gorsuch: McCain Says Nuclear Option Is 'Slippery Slope' description: Arizona Sen. John McCain said voting to trigger the “nuclear option” was tough for him canonical: https://time.com/4729418/john-mccain-neil-gorsuch-nuclear-option/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-06T18:44:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:52:27.145Z article:section: Politics og:title: John McCain Says Nuclear Option Is a 'Slippery Slope' After Voting For It og:description: He said the vote was tough for him og:url: https://time.com/4729418/john-mccain-neil-gorsuch-nuclear-option/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a611c6e64e3ed87/6988c1bf4e9ee7ab76a0a626/john-mccain-senate-scotus-vote-intelligence-gorsuch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4800 og:image:height: 2700 og:image:alt: Senate Select Intelligence Committee Holds Hearing og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John McCain Says Nuclear Option Is a 'Slippery Slope' After Voting For It twitter:description: He said the vote was tough for him twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a611c6e64e3ed87/6988c1bf4e9ee7ab76a0a626/john-mccain-senate-scotus-vote-intelligence-gorsuch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # John McCain Says Nuclear Option Is a 'Slippery Slope' After Voting For It > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Apr 6, 2017 6:44 PM UTC  Sen. John McCain speaks with reporters outside of the Senate chamber, on Capitol Hill, March 23, 2017 in Washington. Sen. John McCain speaks with reporters outside of the Senate chamber, on Capitol Hill, March 23, 2017 in Washington.Drew Angerer—Getty Images by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Apr 6, 2017 6:44 PM UTC After joining with his fellow Republicans to trigger the [“nuclear option”](http://time.com/4723610/neil-gorsuch-supreme-court-nuclear-option-filibuster/?xid=homepage) to change Senate rules for confirming Supreme Court nominees on Thursday, Arizona Sen. John McCain said the vote was tough for him. The Republicans [changed the confirmation rules](http://time.com/4728558/neil-gorsuch-filibuster-senate-confirmation-vote/?xid=homepage) after Senate Democrats organized the [first-ever partisan filibuster](http://time.com/4659403/neil-gorsuch-filibuster-abe-fortas/) of a Supreme Court nominee, in this case President Donald Trump’s choice of Neil Gorsuch. Ending a filibuster requires 60 votes, and the Republicans did not have those votes. So they decided to amend the Senate rules so that Supreme Court nominees will now need only a simple majority to be confirmed rather than the previous 60 votes. While Republicans banded together to approve the rule change, McCain and others such as Sen. Susan Collins of Maine spent the past week warning that the so-called nuclear option would [damage Senate traditions](http://time.com/4725387/neil-gorsuch-confirmation-filibuster-nuclear-option/?xid=homepage) and could have dangerous consequences in the future. After voting for the rule change on Thursday, McCain said he thinks ending the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees is a “slippery slope,” according to Haley Byrd, a reporter for _The Independent Journal Review._ > [](https://twitter.com/byrdinator/status/850029155471298560) These comments were similar to those he made before the vote. “I believe our actions will haunt us,” McCain said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “We will see more and more nominees from the extremes of both left and right.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4729418/john-mccain-neil-gorsuch-nuclear-option/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4729418/john-mccain-neil-gorsuch-nuclear-option/"},"headline":"John McCain Says Nuclear Option Is a 'Slippery Slope' After Voting For It","datePublished":"2017-04-06T18:44:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:52:27.145Z","description":"He said the vote was tough for him","url":"https://time.com/4729418/john-mccain-neil-gorsuch-nuclear-option/","keywords":["Supreme Court","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a611c6e64e3ed87/6988c1bf4e9ee7ab76a0a626/john-mccain-senate-scotus-vote-intelligence-gorsuch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a611c6e64e3ed87/6988c1bf4e9ee7ab76a0a626/john-mccain-senate-scotus-vote-intelligence-gorsuch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senate Select Intelligence Committee Holds Hearing","caption":"Sen. 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