Mitch McConnell Promises Trump’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg Replacement Will Get A Vote
Nine months out from the 2016 election, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made the unprecedented decision not to let President Barack Obama fill a Supreme Court opening because, he argued, the next president should get to pick the nominee.
He left the seat vacant, handing Donald Trump the political gift.
On Friday, less than two months out from the election, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away.
This time, McConnell is not waiting around.
Just hour after Ginsburg’s death was announced, the GOP leader said he would be moving forward as soon as Trump does. This year is different from 2016, he said, because the Senate and the president are in the same party.
“Americans reelected our majority in 2016 and expanded it in 2018 because we pledged to work with President Trump and support his agenda, particularly his outstanding appointments to the federal judiciary. Once again, we will keep our promise,” he said in a statement. “President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.”
The opportunity to replace one of the court’s most liberal justices with a conservative is a dream come true for many in the Republican Party. If Trump’s nominee is confirmed, the court would be tilted 6-3 toward conservatives.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) tweeted that McConnell should follow the rule he created under Obama. In fact, he used, verbatim, the words that McConnell said in 2016.
“The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president,” he wrote.
There’s little Democrats can do to stop Trump’s nominee from getting confirmed, at least procedurally. They’re in the minority, and a Supreme Court nominee needs just 51 votes to pass.
The best hope for Democrats is that their entire caucus opposes the nominee, and that a few moderate GOP senators decide...
