As the fight over filling the seat vacated by the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg continues, President Trump’s plans are taking shape. For one, he plans to announce his nominee on Saturday.
And to ask Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, he expects that Trump's pick will be an "extremely well qualified woman." Speaking at the Capitol, McConnell said the Senate “has a constitutional obligation” to move a nomination forward, despite the looming presidential election. The GOP also says they’ve got the votes.
As we’ve been telling you, back in 2016, both Republicans and Democrats sang a very different tune on the subject. McConnell prevented President Obama from filling a vacancy in 2016, insisting that it should not happen in an election year.
Democrats are accusing Republicans of blatant hypocrisy, considering their actions in 2016...but then, in the same year, Vice President Joe Biden said something similar in 2016...though in the reverse. Back then, Biden maintained that a president should go forward with nominating a replacement Supreme Court judge...“even a few months before a presidential election.”
Meantime, McConnell says Senator Lindsey Graham, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, is making a plan for handling the nomination. As for the votes, while Maine’s Susan Collins has said she’ll vote against a nominee, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski also says she’s against pushing through a justice. But the question mark of Utah’s Mitt Romney is no more. While he and Trump have long been at odds, Romney now says he’s on board with moving forward. If that’s the case, Trump’s pick appears all but assured to be confirmed.
Source: NBC News