The Senate on Thursday voted along party lines to modify the chamber's rules to lower the necessary threshold for cloture from 60 votes to a simple majority of 51 votes to move forward Judge Neil Gorsuch's Supreme Court nomination.
The Senate voted 52 to 48 to trigger the so-called nuclear option, paving the way for Gorsuch's confirmation.
Senate Democrats first employed the nuclear option back in 2013 to advance former President Obama's judicial nominations, although the Supreme Court was not included in the rule change. The move was used to circumvent Republican efforts to filibuster some of Obama's nominees
Three and a half years, Democrats have threatened to filibuster the nomination of Gorsuch, President Trump's pick for the nation's highest court. The Senate's 52 Republicans threatened to use the nuclear option to break the filibuster and did so on Thursday.
YES vote = Keep 60 vote precedent
NO vote = Change to simple majority #NuclearOptionhttps://t.co/m8s5NqroSZ— CSPAN (@cspan) April 6, 2017
The Senate is set to vote Friday on Gorsuch's confirmation.