Sen. Susan Collins was seen on the floor circulating a draft letter among senators as Democrats voted to block Neil Gorsuch. | AP Photo Collins pushes to preserve legislative filibuster

As the Senate moved toward a historic decision to shred the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees Thursday, Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins was collecting support for a bipartisan effort to preserve the 60-vote threshold for legislation.

Collins was seen on the floor circulating a draft letter among senators as Democrats voted to block Neil Gorsuch. That 55-45 vote teed up a precedent-setting rules change by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who used the “nuclear option” to allow high court nominees to advance in the Senate without clearing a 60-vote threshold.


Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) signed the letter and praised Collins’ effort, which he said got “a bunch” of signatures from both parties.

“I think it’s kind of the affirmation that folks do want to work together,” Cassidy told reporters. “They do see the legislative and judicial filibuster as separate entities.”

McConnell committed earlier this week to keep the legislative filibuster intact amid concern that eliminating the practice for Supreme Court nominees would prove a first step to a similar rules change to allow the 52-member GOP conference to pass bills more easily.

One member of GOP leadership, Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, predicted that the nuclear standoff over Gorsuch would help affirm the chamber’s interest in keeping the legislative filibuster alive.

“This may have brought the Senate to an even greater commitment that on legislative matters there has always been more than a majority required for 228 years,” Blunt told reporters.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) also signed Collins’ letter, though he took a dimmer view of its significance. “It’s a nice gesture, but meaningless,” McCain said.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), however, declined to join Collins. “I’m not signing anything.”

Collins’ office declined to comment on the text of the letter she circulated. The Mainer later said in a statement that she "was heavily involved in negotiations with members of both parties throughout the last two weeks" aimed at averting the nuclear standoff.

“If senators are going to address the problems facing the nation and the world, we are going to first have to address the problems facing the United States Senate," Collins added. "Change will require restoring the unwritten ethos that has made this body a model for the world for 230 years. It is an ethos built upon trust, compromise, and restraint."