Senate Judiciary Chairman Reveals Whether Trump SCOTUS Pick Will Get Confirmed
By Jack Davis
Published September 22, 2020 at 8:04am
In the scorched-earth war that surrounds nominations to the U.S. Supreme Court, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham is ready to bring the fire.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death Friday at age 87 ignited a firestorm over the politics and policy of filling her vacant seat. Justices are nominated by a president and confirmed by the Senate.
Democrats have said any nomination should wait until after the election, in hopes that Democratic nominee Joe Biden will win. Many Republicans and President Donald Trump have vowed to move forward quickly.
The ramifications of a conservative justice ascending to the court are vast. Prior to Ginsburg’s death, the court had four-member liberal and conservative wings, with Chief Justice John Roberts often playing the role of swing vote. Replacing Ginsburg, a member of the liberal wing, with a conservative justice would give the court a conservative majority.
High stakes have produced intense rhetoric on the process, and during an appearance Monday on the Fox News show "Hannity," Graham said he is not backing down.
“It’s pretty obvious that if they want an outcome, they’ll just destroy anybody’s life to keep the seats open,” said the South Carolina Republican, who faces a fight for re-election.
“They said they tried to destroy Brett Kavanaugh so they could fill the seat — they were dumb enough to say that,” Graham said, referencing the campaign of character assassination that Trump’s court nominee endured before his confirmation in 2018. “I’ve seen this movie before. It’s not going to work. It didn’t work with Kavanaugh.”
Graham said the bottom line is that despite apparent defections from Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Republicans can win this showdown.