Albert R. Hunt, Columnist

Democrats Have a Gorsuch Problem

Moderate senators up for re-election are tempted to vote for the Republican Supreme Court nominee. Liberals are threatening to knock them off.

March 24, 2017 at 11:30 AM UTC

By Albert R. Hunt

Albert R. Hunt is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was the executive editor of Bloomberg News, before which he was a reporter, bureau chief and executive Washington editor at the Wall Street Journal.

No wonder those guys are smiling.
Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Images

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Neil Gorsuch will have the support of all 52 Senate Republicans for confirmation to the Supreme Court. He also could win the votes of a half-dozen or so Democrats, and therein lies a problem for that party.

Unlike President Donald Trump's budget or the Republican health-care plan, which are so flawed that it's easy for all Democrats to oppose them, backing Gorsuch may have some political appeal for Democrats from conservative states. That has inflamed left-wing activists, who have threatened to oppose any Senate Democrat who supports Trump's Supreme Court nominee.