Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has repeatedly said he will fight any nomination that isn't "mainstream." | AP Photo Schumer searches for SCOTUS strategy Schumer has said he will fight any nomination that isn't 'mainstream,' declining to match McConnell's strategy of a unilateral blockade.

The Democratic Party is splintering over its strategy for handling President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, with liberals upset that Senate Democrats aren’t taking a harder line and moderates fretting about appearing too obstructive.

In the middle is Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who's facing one of the biggest moments in his career. Battles over Supreme Court nominees are epic struggles between the parties, and emotions are running hotter than normal this time around after Republicans blocked President Barack Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland from even getting a hearing for almost all of last year.


Some Democrats want to reprise those same hardball tactics. But Schumer and his allies are trying to convince all the factions in his party to move deliberately, and wait to mount any full-scale opposition until after a pick has been named and they've had a chance to dig into nominee's record.

Schumer, for his part, has repeatedly said he will fight any nomination that isn't "mainstream," declining to match McConnell's strategy of a unilateral blockade so early in the process. He repeated that stance Tuesday, saying that "this is such an important decision that it ought to be bipartisan and mainstream."

A survey of Democratic members shows the wide range of opinions within the caucus.

"There's no doubt what they did [on Garland] was wrong and unconstitutional. In the end, I don't think we should play their game. Have a hearing and vote,” said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), an endangered Democratic incumbent.

“Mitch McConnell stole a Supreme Court seat from the United States of America,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), a progressive himself who’s up for reelection in 2018. “If Trump wanted to bring the country together … he would nominate Merrick Garland and say he’s middle of the road.”

On Monday, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) announced his plans to mount a filibuster against any Trump nominee, vowing to use the Senate’s tools to exact revenge for Garland’s treatment. Later in the day, Schumer buttonholed Merkley to chide him on his comments, according to multiple sources familiar of the matter.

While Schumer told Merkley he has the right to demand a 60-vote threshold on the nominee, Schumer also told him not to make the fight about retribution for Garland, those sources said. And Schumer told Merkley, who is now the caucus’s chief deputy whip, to speak for himself and not the party, people familiar with the conversation said.

Merkley told Schumer that’s what he was doing. Any senator can demand a Supreme Court nominee require 60 votes to advance toward final confirmation — what's unusual is to do so before a nominee has even been named.

The exchange is emblematic of the headache that Democrats now face. They are stuck in the minority and could have Republicans unilaterally change the Senate rules to eliminate a 60-vote threshold for Supreme Court nominees using the so-called nuclear option. Privately, Senate Democratic sources said that they expect that the party will likely overwhelmingly oppose Trump's nominee, but Democrats will do so on the merits of Trump's pick and build their wall of opposition gradually. The caucus discussed the matter at a party strategy lunch on Tuesday, with most members arguing for a cautious approach to the nomination.

Democrats are worried, multiple aides said, about Republicans having an excuse to kill the filibuster on the Supreme Court now, and later use it to ram through an even more conservative nominee if there is another vacancy during Trump's presidency.

That risk has many Senate Democrats wanting to play nice with the pick at the beginning before formally opposing a nominee after a thorough committee vetting. It’s the precise opposite of how McConnell handled Garland — a tactic that drew widespread criticism but was ultimately effective in galvanizing conservative support for Republicans in the 2016 elections.

"I'm inclined to call to ensure that whoever is nominated by President Trump gets the hearing and vote in committee that Merrick Garland never got,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.). "Once we get through the hearing process, and I get to dig into his or her record ... I'll reconsider the path forward. I'm gonna give his nominee a fair hearing."

Privately, in meetings with Schumer's staff and Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), liberal groups are pressing for a far more aggressive response, said two sources familiar with those conversations. The Democratic staffers have told outside groups that they are not committed to using the filibuster to block a nominee in principle, and instead will make a more measured argument against Trump’s nominee’s views and ideology. Officials from those groups, who requested anonymity to discuss the party’s internal conflict, are not satisfied with anything other than a hardline stance against Trump’s nominee.

Senate Democrats are “creating a totally unnecessary rift with the base and inviting primary challenges for many members who don't deserve them,” said one leader of a progressive group, worried over Democrats' being perceived as centrists for considering Trump's nominee.

“Some Democrats are wishy washy and afraid that they'll nuke the filibuster,” said a second staffer at another group that has met with Senate Democratic aides about the matter.

And in a letter to Senate Democrats in Tuesday, Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden argued that because Trump did not win the popular vote he should be held to an even higher threshold than 60 votes.

"The Senate should refuse to act on any Supreme Court that does not have the broad bipartisan support of a super majority of upwards of 66 senators," she wrote.

But though liberals are raging in the streets over Trump and the Democratic Party is growing increasingly progressive, Senate Democrats have a different political calculation. Schumer faces a daunting mid-terms map in 2018 that could cause even further Democratic losses in Congress. Five Democrats senators are up for reelection in 2018 in states Trump’s won easily, and for most of them blatantly obstructive tactics are not a political winner.

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota said that Trump’s nominee “should get a full hearing.” Asked if the nominee should also get a straight up-or-down vote rather than be blocked by a filibuster, she replied: “Absolutely.”

Elana Schor contributed to this report.