Cloture!
MULTIPLE UPDATES BELOW
Although the vote is still open, it’s apparent the U.S. Senate will invoke cloture on the nomination of Judge Alito to the Supreme Court. The Democratic filibuster has failed.
More shortly.
UPDATE —
The vote was 72-25 in support of ending debate. The Senate will tomorrow take an up-or-down vote on the nomination itself. Sam Alito is going to the Supreme Court.
UPDATE II —
Bonus round! Associated Press now reporting that the number of Republicans in the U.S. Senate has risen to 72:
WASHINGTON - With a vote that broke largely along party lines, the Senate voted Monday to end debate on the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to be the next associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, scuttling the eleventh-hour attempt of some Democrats to block Alito’s confirmation.
UPDATE III —
Here’s your cue to be elated: the left-wing outfit People for the American Way finds today’s vote “excruciatingly disappointing” …
UPDATE IV —
The official roll call is here.
UPDATE V —
We’re on a roller coaster! Associated Press has “revised and extended” its remarks and now puts the number of Republicans in the Senate back to 55:
WASHINGTON — The Senate all but guaranteed Samuel Alito’s confirmation as the nation’s 110th Supreme Court justice Monday, shutting down a last-minute attempt by liberals to block the conservative judge’s nomination with a filibuster.
Republican and Democratic senators on a 72-25 vote agreed to end their debate, setting up a Tuesday morning vote on his confirmation to replace retiring moderate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
With at least 57 votes committed to Alito — 53 Republicans and four Democrats — approval by majority vote in the 100-member Senate is now seemingly assured.
A bloc of Democrats, led by Massachusetts Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry, unsuccessfully tried over the weekend and Monday to persuade other senators to use a vote-delaying filibuster to stop Alito, a 15-year veteran of the U.S. Appeals Court and a former lawyer for the Reagan administration.
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