Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has drawn the line: President Obama will not get another Supreme Court nominee confirmed.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell says flatly that his party won't permit a vote on any Supreme Court nominee submitted by President Barack Obama but will "revisit the matter" after the presidential election in November.
The Kentucky Republican acknowledged that Obama is within his rights to nominate a replacement to Antonin Scalia but said Republicans controlling the Senate would exercise their rights to "withhold" consent.
It's a dangerous plan, as vulnerable Republicans like Rob Portman, Pat Toomey and Mark Kirk know. McConnell's abysmal approval rating is already an anchor around their necks, and they will face very real backslash for his obstruction.
Democratic Leader Harry Reid responded by pointing out what this means not just for Senate Republicans, but for the Republican party in general, setting the narrative for 2016. The Republican party is "abandoning its last vestiges of decency and unconditionally surrendering its moral compass to Trump and Cruz." Pretty much.