Here are 9 steps the Senate may take to 'go nuclear' and approve Gorsuch

How, exactly, does the Senate go "nuclear"?

If Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch doesn't get 60 votes later this week — the showdown will probably be Thursday — to overcome a Democratic filibuster of his nomination, Republican leaders will likely move quickly to change Senate rules to confirm him without the need for a single Democratic vote.

The change is called the "nuclear option" because it blows up both long-standing rules and bipartisanship in a chamber that has traditionally valued both.

It also is a complicated process that only a parliamentarian could love, the subject of two detailed 2013 reports by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, which helps members of Congress understand congressional procedures.