Top Judiciary Dem Feinstein: RBG successor should 'under no circumstances' be confirmed before inauguration
From WWW.FOXNEWS.COM
Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein said in a statement Friday evening that the successor to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was the face of the liberal bloc on the Supreme Court and a leading light for women's rights, should "under no circumstances" be confirmed before Inauguration Day in January.
"The country lost a truly amazing woman tonight with the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She may have been small of stature but she was an absolute giant of jurisprudence," Feinstein, D-Calif., said. "Justice Ginsburg was a trailblazer for women. She was a once-in-a-generation legal mind and a passionate champion for the rights of all Americans. Simply put, she was an extraordinary person whose passing is a loss to the nation."
Feinstein, the top Democrat on the key committee for vetting Supreme Court nominees, added: "Under no circumstances should the Senate consider a replacement for Justice Ginsburg until after the presidential inauguration. Senator McConnell made his position clear in 2016 when he held Justice Scalia’s seat vacant for 10 months so he could deny President Obama an appointment -- a goal he himself admitted."
Feinstein said that the late Justice Antonin Scalia's seat was held open when he died 237 days before election day. Ginsburg died less than two months before the election.
"It has been reported that Justice Ginsburg’s wish was that the winner of the upcoming election nominate her successor," Feinstein added. "We should all honor that wish and wait until after the presidential inauguration to take action.'
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has made clear that he intends to move ahead with the confirmation process for Ginsburg's replacement after President Trump nominates somebody.
"President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate," McConnell said in a statement Friday.
He explained his reasoning for why 2020 is different than 2016, when he held open the seat for Justice Scalia's replacement -- eventually Justice Neil Gorsuch -- until after the presidential election.
"In the last midterm election before Justice Scalia’s death in 2016, Americans elected a Republican Senate majority because we pledged to check and balance the last days of a lame-duck president’s second term. We kept our promise. Since the 1880s, no Senate has confirmed an opposite-party president’s Supreme Court nominee in a presidential election year," McConnell said.
WHAT MITCH MCCONNELL DID IN THE IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH OF JUSTICE SCALIA'S DEATH
He continued: "By contrast, 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."
As the Supreme Court confirma... (Read more)
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Submitted 1307 days ago
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