Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Friday repeated Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) words back to him verbatim: The Supreme Court vacancy shouldn’t be filled by this President.
In a statement on the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Schumer posted a tweet that sounded oddly familiar: “The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice,” he wrote. “Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”
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.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) September 18, 2020
McConnell, eagle-eyed observers recalled, said the same thing in 2016 in the wake of the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
One key difference: McConnell’s quote came in February in an election year, Schumer’s comes in mid-September, with less than seven weeks to go before Election Day.
Senate Republicans refused to consider a replacement for Scalia for months, holding out until President Donald Trump won office.
Democrats in recent months have pressed for the same standard to apply in the case of a new Supreme Court vacancy. But McConnell, last year, said he would fill a 2020 Supreme Court vacancy.
