The Senate voted to confirm Neil Gorsuch as a justice of the Supreme Court.

But Senate Republicans had to  “go nuclear”  to make it happen.

Democrats tried to filibuster his nomination, and Republicans didn’t have the 60 votes they needed to end the debate.

SEE MORE: Trump And Gorsuch Feel Very Differently About Criticizing Judges Democrats opposed Gorsuch because they were concerned he wouldn’t serve as an independent check on the president, and many senators were still upset that former President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, never got a confirmation hearing.

So on Thursday, the Republicans voted to lower the  cloture threshold  from 60 votes to a simple majority.

Invoking cloture also put a 30-hour limit on debate.