Campaign Action
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, immediately following the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia:
"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," McConnell said in a statement.
McConnell, after President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland to replace Scalia.
"The American people are perfectly capable of having their say on this issue, so let's give them a voice. Let's let the American people decide. The Senate will appropriately revisit the matter when it considers the qualifications of the nominee the next president nominates, whoever that might be," McConnell said.
McConnell on the prospect of lame-duck confirmation of Merrick Garland should the Senate flip to Democrats:
"We've already made it very clear that a nomination for the Supreme Court by this president will not be filled this year," McConnell said when asked if he'd take up Garland in a lame-duck session of Congress if Clinton wins.
McConnell Thursday, on jamming through Donald Trump's nominees:
“Well, we’re going to continue to confirm judges all year. You know, the Congress doesn’t stop with the elections. It goes until the end of the year. We’re going to do six more next week, which will bring us to 21. I’m processing them as quickly as they come out of the Judiciary Committee, and the administration’s sending them up rapidly. I don’t know what the final number is, but my goal, Hugh, is to confirm all the circuit and district court judges that come out of committee this calendar year. All of them.”
Elections only count against a president when the president is a Democrat.
Democrats don't have a lot of tools at their disposal to keep McConnell from stacking the courts with Trump's deplorables, but at this point—with everything that's swirling around Trump, from colluding with a foreign adversary to throw an election, to fraud—it's imperative that they use the tools they do have to shut it all down.