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By the end of this week, Republicans hope they'll have approval in the Senate for President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.
But standing in the way are the Democrats, and to get around them, the Republicans will have to use the "nuclear option".
This would have big political ramifications.
What's the backstory to this?
Conservative justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, but his vacancy on the Supreme Court still hasn't been filled.
Last year, Republicans refused to even consider Democratic president Barack Obama's nominee to fill the vacancy, Merrick Garland.
That set the stage for the current bitter Senate showdown as Republicans attempt to restore the Supreme Court's conservative majority and fulfil one of Mr Trump's election promises.
How are Democrats standing between Mr Gorsuch and the Supreme Court?
Republicans control the Senate 52-48, and that gives them the simple majority necessary to confirm Mr Gorsuch's appointment.
But the problem is, the Democrats have the power to stop the nomination from even coming to a vote.
The party has already confirmed that it will be using a "filibuster" to block the vote, and it's expected that this will succeed.
A filibuster is when a senator delays a vote by talking for as long as they can. It takes 60 votes to break a filibuster, and the Republicans just don't have the numbers to do this.
So what can Republicans do about it?
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to change the Senate's rules in order to eliminate the ability to use a filibuster against Supreme Court nominees.
You only need a majority to change that rule.
Republicans are so confident they'll succeed that Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley has already declared that Mr Gorsuch "will be on the Supreme Court Friday night".
But Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal says it's called the "nuclear option" for a reason.
"This fallout will be dangerously and perhaps disastrously radioactive for the Senate for years to come," he said.
One thing is for sure, the "nuclear option" wouldn't do anything towards restoring trust between the major parties in Washington.
Has the 'nuclear option' been done before?
Yes, the Democrats were actually the first to use it.
In 2013, when they controlled the Senate, they changed the rules to bar filibusters for executive branch nominees and federal judges aside from Supreme Court justices.
They did this in response to Republicans filibustering Mr Obama's appeals court nominees.
How could the nuclear option backfire for the Republicans?
For starters, it could hurt them next time they're in the minority.
It's with this in mind that the Republicans are only changing the rules regarding filibusters on Supreme Court nominees, and not regarding legislation.
But because of this, Republicans could find it harder to get Mr Trump's legislative agenda through the Senate, considering Democrats are expected to be strongly opposed to much of it.
Keep in mind that in December 2010, former presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders spoke for more than eight hours to protest against a tax-cut deal that president Barack Obama made with Republicans.
Mr McConnell has placed the blame for the current situation on the Democrats.
"Democrats are now being pushed by far-left interest groups into doing something truly detrimental to this body and to our country," he said.
"They seem to be hurtling toward the abyss this time, and trying to take the Senate with them."
ABC/Reuters
Topics: donald-trump, world-politics, united-states