Story highlights Democrats mostly opposed Gorsuch's nomination

Question will be how far they are willing to go to filibuster him

Washington (CNN) Within minutes of President Donald Trump's selection of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, Democrats who will lead the fight in the Senate delivered scathing assessments -- but held fire on perhaps the most important question facing them: whether they will filibuster the nomination.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer immediately said he had "serious doubts" about Gorsuch and hinted at a Democratic filibuster, saying the nominee would need to the support of 60 senators to be confirmed, but stopped short of committing to the tactic.

"Make no mistake, Senate Democrats will not simply allow but require an exhaustive, robust, and comprehensive debate on Judge Gorsuch's fitness to be a Supreme Court Justice," Schumer said Tuesday night.

On the surface, Senate Democrats stuck to a firm but somewhat noncommittal message that hinted at the behind-the-scenes debate at the Capitol over whether Democrats will filibuster.

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If they choose to hold up his nomination unless he can win 60 votes, Democrats risk spurring Republicans to use the "nuclear option" to rewrite the rules to only require 51 votes for confirmation.

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