In 2017, Republicans lowered the confirmation threshold for Supreme Court justices from 60 votes to 51 votes.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by multiple independent contemporaneous news sources (CNN, NPR, NBC) and the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service report on the 2017 'nuclear option' rules change lowering the Supreme Court confirmation threshold from 60 to 51 votes. [tier=gold indep_score=1.0 clusters=4 claim_tier=notable | framework convergence=partial (upstreams: Congressional Research Service (CRS), U.S. Senate official proceedings/Rule XXII) — publishers independent, evidence may not be | kind=empirical eligibility=high]
Sources
- Filibuster, cloture: US Senate rules featured in abortion debate | Politics News | Al Jazeera (seed:politics_and_current_events)
- https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/06/politics/senate-nuclear-option-neil-gorsuch/ (corroboration)
- https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R44819 (corroboration)
- https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-democrats-block-neil-gorsuch-s-supreme-court-nomination-n743326 (corroboration)
- https://www.npr.org/2017/04/06/522847700/senate-pulls-nuclear-trigger-to-ease-gorsuch-confirmation (corroboration)