Four years after refusing to hold hearings or a vote on an election year nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Barack Obama, Republicans in the U.S. Senate signaled Friday night that they would push ahead with a vote on a nominee to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
“President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in a written statement.
It was not immediately clear whether McConnell would call for a vote before the November 3 elections, or afterwards in a lame duck session.
Republicans hold 53 seats in the Senate. They could afford to lose three Senators, and still would have 50 - plus the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Mike Pence - to confirm any Supreme Court nomination from President Trump.
“I believe that the President should next week nominee a successor to the court, and I think it is critical that the Senate takes up and confirms that successor before Election Day,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told Fox News on Friday night.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Ginsburg vacancy: "President Trump's nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate."
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) September 19, 2020
Attention quickly centered on a series of GOP Senators, who are either in tough re-election races - like Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) - or who have crossed swords with President Trump - like Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), or have expressed reservations about such a vote - like Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
It would take four GOP rebels voting against a Supreme Court nominee to sink any choice of President Trump, as Democrats are powerless to do anything about it.
“Mitch McConnell set the precedent,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA). “No Supreme Court vacancies filled in an election year.”
“We should honor her final wish that she should be replaced only after the next presidential inauguration,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) of Ginsburg.
A Democratic Party group which focuses on judicial matters quickly moved to take the battle over the Ginsburg seat to the airwaves, recalling the GOP’s refusal to hold hearings or a vote on Obama nominee Merrick Garland in 2016.
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— Fix Our Senate (@FixOurSenate) September 19, 2020
In 2016, Sen. McConnell took a strong stance: the Senate would not consider a nominee this close to an election. McConnell must follow his own rule here and let the American people decide who should fill Justice Ginsberg’s seat. pic.twitter.com/BssJBbZIjp
After Republicans changed the Senate rules in 2017 to do away with filibusters against Supreme Court nominees, Democrats have no options to stop a Trump nomination.