Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has vowed to get Judge Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court bench, no matter the procedural and political cost.

And one cost indeed could be very heavy for Republicans. Democrats may filibuster Gorsuch’s nomination, forcing Republicans to end the centuries-old rule that gives the minority party power to block a Supreme Court nominee. (Just a few years ago, Democrats ended the ability to filibuster on all nominees except those for the Supreme Court.)

If Republicans do blow up the filibuster for all nominees (something President Trump is okay with), it could make Senate Republicans’ job on everything else a lot harder. If the filibuster goes, congressional experts warn that so, too, does any remaining semblance of bipartisan cooperation on the Senate’s approval process for Cabinet members and judges and any future Supreme Court vacancies.

The stage is set for this epic battle: At least one Senate Democrat had promised to block Trump’s pick before the nominee was even announced, essentially as punishment for Republicans who blocked President Barack Obama’s most recent Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland.

“This is a stolen seat. This is the first time a Senate majority has stolen a seat,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) told Politico back in January.