Sen. Ed Markey Edward (Ed) John MarkeyMassachusetts town clerk resigns after delays to primary vote count Bogeymen of the far left deserve a place in any Biden administration Senate Democrats urge Amazon to recall, stop sales of explosive products MORE (D-Mass.) pledged Monday that Democrats will restore a 60-vote filibuster threshold for Supreme Court nominees if they regain the majority in the upper chamber.

"We will restore the 60-vote margin. We will ensure that for the Supreme Court there is that special margin that any candidate has to reach," he told MSNBC.

He said making Supreme Court candidates get 60 votes "is essential to ensuring that our country has a confidence in those people who are nominated, rather than just someone who passes a litmus test."

Markey's comments come after Republicans triggered the "nuclear option" last week to confirm Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, who took the judicial oath on Monday.

There's been no indication yet from Senate Democratic leadership that it plans to restore the 60-vote procedural threshold if the party retakes the Senate in the future.

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Under a rule change enacted last week by the GOP, the minority party will still be able to filibuster Supreme Court nominees, but the majority will only need 51 votes, instead of 60, to end debate.

Republicans defended the rule change by arguing Democrats were waging the first "partisan filibuster" of a Supreme Court nominee and were signaling they wouldn't back any Republican nominee.

Markey's Monday pledge was met with near-immediate skepticism from some GOP strategists.