Supreme battle: what you need to know about the fight over President Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court.

• Author: Smith, Patricia
• Position: NATIONAL

There's not much that happens in Washington that can compete with the drama of a Supreme Court nomination. To understand why, you only need to do some simple math: Unlike the presidents who nominate them, the Court's nine justices can keep their jobs for life--and help shape American society for decades.

But even more than the usual fireworks may be in store for President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Neil M. Gorsuch. For one thing, Democrats are itching for a fight over a nomination that they say was stolen from former President Barack Obama. And for another, Republicans are threatening, if necessary, to use a Senate parliamentary maneuver so extreme that it's referred to as the nuclear option (see "Supreme Lingo," p. 16).

All in all, it has the makings of a monumental battle, even by Washington standards.

"It's going to be a huge fight," says Geoffrey Stone, a law professor at the University of Chicago.

Here's what you need to know to follow the action.

What's at stake?

At stake is the ideological makeup of the nation's highest court. Trump wants Gorsuch, a conservative federal judge from Colorado, to fill the seat vacated by the February 2016 death of Justice Antonin Scalia, who led the Court's conservatives. The vacancy, now more than a year old, has left the Court with four liberal-leaning justices, three conservative-leaning justices, and one justice who is often the swing vote (see 'The Court," p. 16). Senate confirmation of Gorsuch would restore the same ideological balance that existed when Scalia was on the Court.

Last year, Obama nominated a liberal-leaning judge, Merrick Garland, to fill the vacancy. But the Republican-controlled Senate refused to consider his nomination in an election year. Democrats are still furious that Obama's pick wasn't given a vote, and some have called for an all-out war over Gorsuch's nomination.

What's Judge Gorsuch's background?

Gorsuch, 49, is the youngest person nominated to the Supreme Court in 25 years. That matters because, if confirmed, he could serve for decades. He's a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School. He was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, in Denver, by President George W. Bush. Like Scalia, Gorsuch considers himself an "originalist," meaning he tries to interpret cases with an eye toward what the writers of the Constitution originally meant when they drafted the document in 1787.

What are Democrats & Republicans fighting about?

Both parties are aware that the Supreme Court will rule on some very important cases in coming years. Among the issues that the justices might consider are gun rights, the death penalty, environmental regulations, and the president's authority to shape immigration and national security policy.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell wants a speedy confirmation.

"I hope members of the Senate will ... show him fair consideration and respect the result of the recent election with an up-or-down vote on his nomination," McConnell says.

But Democrats don't see it that way. Aside from believing that Obama should have selected the new justice, they view Trump's actions in office as so extreme that they warrant extra scrutiny of his Supreme Court nominee. Just a few days before Trump announced the Gorsuch nomination in January, he issued an executive order closing U.S. borders to immigrants, travelers, and refugees from seven predominantly Muslim countries. (For more, see "Trump's Travel Ban, p. 6.) Trump also harshly criticized judges who ruled against the ban. Democrats want to make sure the next justice is willing to challenge Trump if necessary.

"[Trump's] administration, at least at its outset, seems to have less respect for the rule of law than any in recent memory, and is challenging the Constitution in unprecedented fashion," says Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader. "There's a special burden on this nominee to be an independent jurist."

How many votes does Gorsuch need to get confirmed?

Technically, a Supreme Court nominee needs only 51 of the Senate's 100 votes to be confirmed. But Senate rules permit the minority party to use a filibuster to block a confirmation vote. (A filibuster lets a single senator or group of senators delay or block a vote by speaking indefinitely, or even just threatening to do so.) Republicans would need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, and with just 52 Republicans in the Senate, they'd need to convince eight Democrats to vote with them. No one expects that to happen.

If Democrats do block Gorsuch's nomination with a filibuster, however, Republicans could take the drastic step of changing the Senate rules to get rid of the filibuster for Supreme Court confirmations. (Only 51 votes are needed to change Senate...