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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSchumer: Ruth Bader Ginsburg seat should be filled by next president
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/517167-schumer-ruth-bader-ginsburg-seat-should-be-filled-by-next-presidentSchumer: Ruth Bader Ginsburg seat should be filled by next president
By Jordain Carney - 09/18/20 08:13 PM EDT
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Friday night that the Senate should wait until next year to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death.
"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," Schumer said in a tweet.
Schumer's tweet comes less than an hour after news broke that Ginsburg had died Friday at 87, throwing a landmine into an already chaotic presidential election year.
Schumer's tweet is a word-for-word copy of a statement Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) released in 2016 after the election-year death of the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.
It also points to the looming battle over whether Senate Republicans will try to fill the seat in an election year, after leaving Scalia's seat open until 2017 when President Trump appointed and the GOP-controlled Senate confirmed Justice Neil Gorsuch.
McConnell, who is up for reelection, has vowed that he will try to fill an open seat. His office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about Ginsburg's passing.
"If you're asking me a hypothetical ... we would fill it," McConnell told Fox News in February.
But a handful of Republicans have been non-committal about if they would support filing an election-year vacancy, though they will likely face intense pressure from conservative activists and their own colleagues to do so. With a 53-47 majority, McConnell could lose three GOP senators and still let Vice President Pence break a tie.
I think thats too close, I really do, she said.
According to the Congressional Research Service it takes an average of nearly 70 days for a Supreme Court nomination to be confirmed from the time they are nominated. That would put a confirmation vote on Ginsburg's successor, if Republicans move forward, during the end-of-year lame duck session.
Thomas Hurt
(13,903 posts)I just can't see them passing up a giant step toward trying to reverse Roe v. Wade.
elleng
(130,865 posts)(R-Ky.) released in 2016 after the election-year death of the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.
mjvpi
(1,388 posts)A promise to expand the Supreme Court should follow
question everything
(47,470 posts)It is different when the same party controls both the White House and the Senate.
And he will go all the way back to 1800 something.
LenaBaby61
(6,974 posts)Will be trying to fill her seat on the high court before RGB is even buried if he could that.
He has NO honor.
regnaD kciN
(26,044 posts)In this case, working "under the gun," they could vote to confirm within two days of Trump announcing his nominee. One day for the nomination, the next day to pass the Judiciary Committee, the third day to pass the entire Senate. Done deal.
Squinch
(50,949 posts)statement and not a tweet, and it needs to pound their hypocrisy and it needs to threaten them with retaliation.
I'm sick to death of his "gentleman legislator" shtick. We need a lot more than what he is giving us. This repost of Moscow Mitch's statement isn't cutting it.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)Donate to their challengers, get out the vote, whatever you can do that will MOVE US FORWARD in a tangible way. Thats it now, tangible action. Thats all there is.