A United States Democratic senator spoke for 15 straight hours on the Senate floor in protest against President Donald Trump’s nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the US Supreme Court. To avoid the move from being dubbed a filibuster, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley invoked what is known as a cloture, which gives him 30 hours to hold the floor for debate, Vox reported.

Merkley took the floor on Tuesday evening and went on until Wednesday early afternoon to highlight the Democrats’ opposition to Gorsuch’s nomination. “The majority team in this chamber decided to steal a Supreme Court seat,” he said, emphasising on Gorsuch’s rulings in sexual discrimination cases where he tends to vote in favour of defendants. “Such a theft never, ever has happened in the history of our nation.”

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The senator also spoke at length on the seat being denied to former US President Barack Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland, who was rejected by the Republican-led US Senate in March 2016. “The majority said, “We intend to pack the court of the United States of America.” It was a warfare tactic of partisanship.”

The Supreme Court seat has been vacant since Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016. Merkley said Gorsuch “is much like his idol and role model Antonin Scalia and other far-right conservatives on the Supreme Court. And while this unbalanced approach might make for interesting reading, the courtroom is not an academic paper. Each case involves real people with real problems,” AP reported.

The US Senate will vote to decide on the Supreme Court post on Thursday, when Democrats will attempt to block the confirmation Gorsuch needs to take office. However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is expected to change the Senate rules to lower the votes required from 60 to a simple majority in the 100-member floor. As many as 44 Democrats had intended to vote against Gorsuch’s confirmation.