Vice President Mike Pence is one of President Donald Trump's closest links to conservatives, and the two Republican leaders strongly ran a campaign platform of nominating a justice to the
Supreme Court who will be acceptable to this formidable group.
Conservatives want a guy on the bench who will potentially vote favorably on issues close to their hearts and interests like religious liberty, Second Amendment, pro-life choices, among others. As expected, Vice President Pence is now on the thick of things in ensuring his and President Trump's choice for a seat in the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch, gets confirmed in the Senate "one way or another."
Pence said in a speech before the conservative legal group the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies in Philadelphia that he hopes that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would not have to do away with the filibuster to guarantee Gorsuch's confirmation. President Trump has earlier said that Mcconnell should be ready to go nuclear if they face continuous opposition from Democrats. Going the nuclear option would mean a nominee to the Supreme Court would only need 51 votes instead of the regular 60 votes to get confirmation. The Republicans enjoy a 52- member strong majority in the Senate.
Pence assured the American public that they will work with the Senate leadership to ensure that Judge Gorsuch gets an "up or down vote on the Senate floor one way or the other." He further underscored that the seat does not belong to any party or any ideology or any interest group. Pence affirmed that "the seat on the Supreme Court belongs to the American people and the American people deserve a vote on the floor of the U.S. Senate".
The Vice President also hailed Gorsuch's qualities saying he is "cut from the same cloth" as the late Justice Antonin Scalia. He also praised Gorsuch for being an originalist and textualist who will pick up right where Justice Scalia left off. He also finds it reassuring that Judge Gorsuch has such a long history of holding the separation of powers and the checks and balances among the three branches of government.
Pence also shared that Gorsuch has already met with 12 senators from both parties and was ready to meet with all 100 senators.
