Mitch McConnell vows US Senate will push on with
Trump's pick to replace Ginsburg
Mitch McConnell says vote will go ahead despite
refusing Obama’s, as Biden says next president should choose Ruth Bader
Ginsburg’s replacement
Lauren
Gambino
@laurenegambino
Sat 19 Sep
2020 05.02 BSTLast modified on Sat 19 Sep 2020 10.10 BST
Mitch
McConnell, the US senate majority leader, vowed on Friday to move forward
quickly with Donald Trump’s nominee to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the
supreme court, setting the stage for an extraordinary political battle just six
weeks before election day.
Shortly
after the 87-year-old justice’s death was announced, the Republican released a
statement removing any doubt about his intention to act, though the timeline
for doing so remained notably vague.
“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,”
McConnell said in a statement. “President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote
on the floor of the United States Senate.”
The death
of one of the most prominent and celebrated supreme court justices in American
history has suddenly transformed an already volatile election season into an
all-out battle for control of every branch of government. Trump, facing a
difficult re-election, has signalled a desire to quickly nominate a third
justice.
The
decision will likely be met with outrage from Democrats, who are still furious
over McConnell’s refusal to consider Barack Obama’s nomination of judge Merrick
Garland to replace the conservative justice Antonin Scalia, who died months
before the 2016 election. Analysts believe the controversial decision – and
Trump’s commitment to nominating “pro-life” justices to the court – was
critical to his surprise presidential victory in 2016.
The
confirmation of Trump’s supreme court appointees Neil Gorsuch and Brett
Kavanaugh secured a solid conservative majority on the court. If Trump is
successful in confirming a third nominee, the conservative bloc would dominate
the nation’s highest court, likely for decades to come.
Earlier
this month, Trump unveiled a list of 20 potential nominees to the court. Among
a host of judicial conservatives were three Republican senators: Tom Cotton of
Arkansas, Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri.
While the
courts have long motivated conservative voters, who see the judicial branch as
a bulwark against a changing electoral landscape, liberals have become
increasingly motivated by judicial appointments during the Trump era. The
prospect of a conservative majority has alarmed liberal voters, who are fearful
a conservative court would overturn Roe v Wade, the landmark supreme court
decision that established a right to abortion.
The titanic
clash over Trump’s choice to replace Ginsburg – and how the Senate proceeds
with the nomination – may well determine the outcome of the election in
November.
“In the
coming days, we should focus on the loss of her justice and enduring legacy,”
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said on Friday night, speaking from
an airport in Delaware after returning from a campaign trip to Minnesota. “But
there is no doubt, let me be clear, that the voters should pick the president and
the president should pick the justice for the Senate to consider. This was the
position of Republican Senate took in 2016, when there were almost 10 months to
go before the election [and] that’s the position the United States Senate must
take today.”
Trump, who
was speaking at a rally in Montana when the news of Ginsburg’s death broke,
mused about appointing Cruz and touted his appointments to the court, though he
appeared oblivious of the partisan battle brewing offstage.
Speaking
after the rally, Trump told reporters: “She led an amazing life. What else can
you say? She was an amazing woman, whether you agreed or not, she was an amazing
woman who led an amazing life. I’m actually saddened to hear that.”
The White
House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, said Trump was unaware of her death
when he took the stage on Friday, and said the White House would lower the
flags in her honor.
It was
unclear if McConnell intended to push for a vote before the November election
or wait until the lame-duck session, the period following the election but
before the new president is sworn-in. Control of the Senate hangs in the
balance, and already some of his members have voiced concern about the prospect
of ramming through a nominee weeks before an election, particularly given
McConnell’s position four years ago.
Senator
Susan Collins, one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents, told the New
York Times earlier this month that she would not seat a Supreme Court justice
in October, arguing that it was “too close” to the election. Unless Trump was
re-elected, she said, she would oppose confirming the president’s nominee in a
lame-duck session.
Shortly
before Ginsburg’s death was announced, Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from
Alaska, told a state radio station that she would not vote to confirm a new
justice before the election. Explaining her rationale, she said it was the same
logic McConnell applied to Obama’s final supreme court nominee.
“That was
too close to an election,” she said, characterizing McConnell’s argument.
Yet Kelly
Loeffler, a Georgia Republican attempting to beat back a strong challenge from
her right, urged the president to appoint a new justice.
McConnell
has argued that the current situation is different from that of 2016. Then,
Republicans controlled the Senate, the chamber that confirms supreme court
nominees, while a Democrat occupied the White House. This time, he contends,
the same party controls both branches, and therefore the confirmation should
proceed.
Democrats
have balked at this argument, saying it threatens the legitimacy of the court.
Even some of the president’s closest allies say a confirmation should not take
place in the final months of an election cycle.
Senator
Lindsey Graham, who is facing an unexpectedly competitive re-election contest
in South Carolina, said during an interview in 2018: “If an opening comes in
the last year of President Trump’s term, and the primary process has started,
we’ll wait to the next election.”
“You’re on
the record,” the interviewer said to Graham, in a video clip that was widely
shared online Friday night.
“Hold the
tape,” he replied.
How RBG's death could radicalize American
politics
The battle over her replacement has the potential to
spur far-reaching, long-term change.
By RYAN
LIZZA
09/19/2020
12:46 AM EDT
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/19/how-rbgs-death-could-transform-washington-418208
“It means
that we are going to war,” one influential Washington Democrat texted tonight
when asked what the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg means. “They do this in the
lame duck and I think Americans will rebel.”
The passion
is understandable. Ginsburg was the most important and iconic Supreme Court
Justice to liberals since Thurgood Marshall, the first African American on the
court. She was the Left’s Antonin Scalia. Replacing her with an ideological
conservative — creating a 6-3 majority on the Court for the right — would have
enormous policy consequences, and not just on abortion, but on civil rights,
gun laws, regulation and many other issues.
Just a few
years ago, when the situation was reversed and Scalia died during the 2016
presidential campaign, Mitch McConnell denied a Senate vote to Barack Obama’s
nominee, Merrick Garland. Ginsburg has been ill for years and Democrats have
been dreading the prospect of losing her before the 2020 election is settled.
Within
hours of Ginsburg’s death, Mitch McConnell made it clear Democrats fears were
warranted. As McConnell had previously signaled publicly, he released a
statement declaring, “President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the
floor of the United States Senate.”
There’s
some uncertainty about whether McConnell can cobble a majority of his 53
Republicans together to confirm a Ginsburg replacement. But his swift decision
Friday night to reverse his 2016 position is likely to be met with two major
reactions from Democrats, one short- and one long-term.
In the
short term, the loss of the beloved Ginsburg, combined with McConnell’s
hypocrisy, and the likelihood of the court shifting to the right, will enrage
Democrats, both in the Senate and out in the country. In the Senate, Democratic
leader Chuck Schumer will be under enormous pressure to respond to McConnell’s
reversal with aggressive tactics.
“The
question will be Chuck's fortitude,” a Democratic strategist said. “He could
shut down the Senate. A government spending bill is due in a couple weeks.”
There is a
fierce debate about whether a Supreme Court battle motivates liberals or
conservatives more. One conservative who supports Biden argued that dynamic
favors the Democrats.
“When I
heard that Scalia died I was fit to be tied because at that point we were
looking at a conservative icon being replaced by Hillary Clinton,” he said. “It
was like seeing your life flash before your eyes. It was terrifying. Now the
Democrats are experiencing that. It is going to light the liberals on fire.”
Other
Republicans argued that Trump already has the support of all the conservatives
who back the president because of his court appointments. A fight over the
Ginsburg replacement does little to add new supporters. Additionally, Trump’s
political weakness this year is among college educated suburban voters, a
constituency that is turned off by the idea of the Supreme Court overturning
Roe vs. Wade.
But in the
long-term, McConnell’s decision could have more far-ranging consequences.
“The winner
of the election should nominate someone in January,” said John Podesta, the
chair of Clinton’s 2016 campaign. “Anything else is a gross abuse of the
Constitution and democratic principles.”
Since the
Garland imbroglio there has been a bubbling debate on the left over how much to
tinker with the Senate and the Supreme Court to redress what Democrats see as
anti-majoritarian moves by McConnell and Republicans. The debate has pitted
institutionalists against procedural radicals. McConnell will embolden the
procedural radicals. Democrats are likely to become more united around several
reforms that have divided them: ending the legislative filibuster, pushing
through statehood for Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, and modifying the
Supreme Court to include more justices.
Not
everything in politics hyped by the media is as big a deal as it seems. But
RBG’s death is one of those cases where it may be even more consequential than
reported. It will certainly alter the makeup of the Supreme Court, but it could
also alter the course of a presidential election, transform the Senate, and
turbocharge the politics of procedural radicalism.
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