Republican Senators Change Their Stance On Election Year Supreme Court Nominations

After the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday, September 18, Republican Senators began sharing their condolences, but their statements came with another message as well.

Just hours after Ginsburg’s death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell shared a statement about her accomplishments and the country’s mourning. His statement didn’t end there, however. McConnell went on to state that the Senate will vote to confirm President Donald Trump’s nomination to fill Ginsburg’s seat despite his opposition to letting President Barack Obama fill the vacant seat that was left when Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016.

In 2016, McConnell refused to allow a vote when Obama attempted to appoint Merrick Garland to the United States Supreme Court. The Senate Majority Leader claimed that it was because no President should be allowed to appoint a Supreme Court Justice during a presidential election year, but Scalia died nearly nine months before election day. Ginsburg’s death comes less than 50 days before the election.

McConnell’s statement is not only in direct conflict with his own words from four years ago, but also in conflict with Ginsburg’s last wish, according to several reports.

McConnell is far from the only Republican Senator to change his stance on this issue. To date, only two Republicans have announced that they will not support Trump’s nominee to fill the vacant seat: Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Senator Mitt Romney of Utah is also expected to oppose any nomination until after the election. If one more Republican Senator votes no on Trump’s nominee and all Democratic Senators vote in the same way, the nomination will fail.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi has stated that Democrats are exploring all their options to prevent Trump from appointing another Justice to the Supreme Court.

Trump is expected to announce his nominee to fill the vacant seat as soon as next week.

Releated