Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley held the Senate floor for more than 15 hours as he tried to halt the confirmation of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
A visibly tired Merkley spoke overnight, before yielding the floor shortly after 7 a.m. pacific time.
“We can rise above the situation in which we have put ourselves,” Merkley said, “The situation in which one team for the first time in U.S. history has stolen a Supreme Court seat.”
That’s a reference to the refusal last year of Republicans to consider then-President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland.
Merkley’s staff said Tuesday evening that he intended to hold the floor as long as he could without yielding.
Republican Senate leaders say they’re confident they will confirm the Gorsuch nomination by the end of this week. They say they’ll do it even if they need to change Senate rules to eliminate filibusters on Supreme Court nominees.