Mitch McConnell - No Filling a SC Vacancy (2024 Remix)

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Monday that if his party regains the majority in 2022 it's "highly unlikely" he would let President Joe Biden confirm a Supreme Court vacancy if one opened up in 2024, and was non-committal when asked about an opening at the end of 2023.

"I think in the middle of a presidential election, if you have a Senate of the opposite party of the president, you have to go back to the 1880s to find the last time a vacancy was filled. So I think it's highly unlikely. In fact, no, I don't think either party if it controlled, if it were different from the president, would confirm a Supreme Court nominee in the middle of an election. What was different in 2020 was we were of the same party as the president," McConnell said on the Hugh Hewitt radio program Monday.

When asked what he would do if his party controlled the Senate and a seat opened up at the end of 2023, McConnell said: "Well, we'd have to wait and see what happens."

The comments from the top Senate Republican are likely to trigger the ire of Democrats who have been intensely critical of McConnell's handling of the Supreme Court confirmation process in the past and have accused Republicans of obstruction and hypocrisy over the issue.

It also comes as pressure as progressives and some Democrats increasingly signal they hope to see Justice Stephen Breyer retire in order to pave the way for Biden to make a nomination to the high court. Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union" Sunday "it's something I think about, but I would probably lean towards yes," when asked if Breyer should retire at the end of this Supreme Court term.

McConnell and Senate Republicans famously refused to consider the Supreme Court nomination of Merrick Garland by then-President Barack Obama in 2016, a presidential election year, after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.

After former President Donald Trump won the White House and was sworn into office, he nominated Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court and the GOP-controlled Senate confirmed the nomination.

But in 2020, another presidential election year, McConnell and Senate Republicans took up and confirmed the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, Trump's pick to fill the vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

McConnell claims that 2020 was different than 2016 because Republicans had control of the Senate and there was a Republican in the White House, whereas when a vacancy arose in 2016, Obama was president while Republicans held the Senate.

But Senate Republicans rarely made that argument in 2016, instead focusing on making a broader argument that voters should get to decide the direction of the Supreme Court with the country on the verge of electing a new president.

Reflecting on his moves to usher in the confirmation of high court justices while Trump was in office, McConnell told Hewitt on Monday, "I do think the issue that you raised is the single most consequential thing I've done in my time as majority leader of the Senate. I preserved the Scalia vacancy, the Gorsuch appointment ... and of course we had very little time left when Justice Ginsburg passed away. That took a good deal of priority and skill to get Amy Coney Barrett through. I think we'll find out what a difference it makes to the American people."

Mitch McConnell says 'highly unlikely' he would let Biden fill a Supreme Court vacancy in 2024 if GOP wins back Senate - CNNPolitics
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:pacspit: the turtle but at least this time he's laying his cards on the table well in advance of the midterms.
 
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AZBeauty said:
Manchin and Sinema would be against it. They need more Senators in 2022, I dont know where they would come from tho.
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They're probably going to get the PA senate seat. Outside chance of maybe getting NC, WI, or OH. Missouri could be a wild card if they veer too far off the crazy train between Greitens and McCloskey
 
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"I think in the middle of a presidential election, if you have a Senate of the opposite party of the president, you have to go back to the 1880s to find the last time a vacancy was filled. So I think it's highly unlikely. In fact, no, I don't think either party if it controlled, if it were different from the president, would confirm a Supreme Court nominee in the middle of an election. What was different in 2020 was we were of the same party as the president," McConnell said on the Hugh Hewitt radio program Monday.

:yeshrug:#factsonly
 
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jj23 said:
If that happens it on the democrats.
They have a chance now to expand the court.
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How? In some alternative reality you discovered with the Time Stone?



DEAD7 said:
"I think in the middle of a presidential election, if you have a Senate of the opposite party of the president, you have to go back to the 1880s to find the last time a vacancy was filled. So I think it's highly unlikely. In fact, no, I don't think either party if it controlled, if it were different from the president, would confirm a Supreme Court nominee in the middle of an election. What was different in 2020 was we were of the same party as the president," McConnell said on the Hugh Hewitt radio program Monday.

:yeshrug:#factsonly
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Once again you're absolutely full of shyt. He made up a set of arbitrary conditions that have zero constitutional basis and have never been stated as a reason for not confirming a SC justice in the 245 years history of this country. And even with his made-up arbitrary conditions, there is precedent for confirming the justice, so he has to throw out, "Well, it hasn't happened since the 1880s though!"

You know what he neglected to say? Do you know how many times a SC justice has died 9 months or more before a presidential election and the senate has refused to vote on a nominee? NONE. NOT fukkING ONCE HAS A SENATE MAJORITY LEADER EVER PULLED THAT BULLshyt THAT LONG BEFORE AN ELECTION.
 
Ozymandeas

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Like someone said on Reddit, in 2021 Mcconnell will say its too soon after the general election to vote for a SC judge. In 2022, he'll say its too close to the Midterms for a vote. In 2023, he'll say its too soon after the Midterms. In 2024, he'll say its too close to the general election. In short he is human excrement and I cannot wait until the underworld calls him home.
 
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It’s gonna backfire like every other republican operation.

:mjlol:

Republicans just gonna end up making the Supreme Court irrelevant when Democrat run states ignore all the conservative rulings.
 
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