Republican senator predicts next Supreme Court fight will be 'armageddon'

A Republican senator has predicted the Senate will erupt in an epic partisan battle soon -- not over the current Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, but over the next Supreme Court vacancy.

Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch made the projection on Thursday, on the same day that Senate Republicans went enacted the 'nuclear option' -- changing long-standing rules to now prohibit a filibuster against Supreme Court nominees.

"The next one, one way or another, can change the court pretty dramatically. If I was the Democrats, I would have concentrated on that," Hatch told reporters, according to The Hill. "For the life of me, I don't know why Democrats made such a fuss about this one. They look stupid."

SEE ALSO: GOP 'goes nuclear,' ends Democratic blockade of Trump's Supreme Court pick

Democrats sparked the process leading to the nuclear option when they chose to filibuster Gorsuch.

"If this nominee cannot earn 60 votes — a bar met by each of President Obama's nominees and George Bush's last two nominees — the answer isn't to change the rules. It's to change the nominee," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters when he announced the decision in March.

Inside the hearing for Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch

With the change in rules, Republicans will be able to confirm Gorsuch with a simple majority. He will fill the vacancy made by the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.

Hatch said he expects the next Supreme Court vacancy to be "armageddon" and added that if President Donald Trump has the opportunity to nominate another justice, the Supreme Court could be in a "conservative mood for a long time."

Two current Supreme Court justices are in their 80s -- Anthony Kennedy and Ruth Bader Ginsburg -- and Justice Stephen Breyer is 78.