The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-9 along party lines to recommend Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, to the full Senate.
Gorsuch was nominated by President Donald Trump to replace conservative Justice Antonin Scalia who died more than a year ago.
There will be a struggle over Gorsuch’s final confirmation in the Senate between Democrats and Republicans.
Democrats have gathered enough support as of April 3 to block a vote on the nomination with a filibuster. Republicans may then trigger a change in Senate rules to allow for Gorsuch’s confirmation, overriding the filibuster. The change, referred to as the “nuclear option,” will lower the number of votes needed to confirm a Supreme Court nominee from 60 to 51. In the case of a filibuster, a Supreme Court nominee needs 60 votes to advance.
Gorsuch already has the support of the 52 Republican senators. If eight Democrats are willing to support him, then the filibuster will be broken and Gorsuch can be confirmed without a rule change.
So far, four Democrats—Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, and Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado—have said they will vote in favor of Gorsuch.
