Romney and Senate Republicans back Trump’s election to Supreme Court

FILE PHOTO: US Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) asks Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a question during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Washington, DC, United States, on July 30, 2020. Greg Nash / Pool via REUTERS / File photo

WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Republicans, including Mitt Romney, lined up Tuesday behind President Donald Trump’s push to expand the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, leaving Democrats little hope of blocking a confirmation vote. on a candidate to replace Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg that could happen before November 11. 3 choice.

Romney, a rare critic of Trump among Republican senators, said he was in favor of voting on Trump’s candidate, giving his party enough support to pass the president’s third appointment to the high court. Trump has said he plans to announce his nominee on Saturday and has urged the Senate, where his fellow Republicans have a 53-47 majority, to vote before the election.

His party’s failed 2012 presidential candidate, Romney, said it would be appropriate for a nation he described politically as center-right to have a Supreme Court “that reflects the views of the center-right.”

Trump has named two women he has appointed federal appeals court judges as potential candidates: Amy Coney Barrett of the Chicago-based 7th Circuit Court of Appeals of the United States and Barbara Lagoa of the 11th Court of Appeals. ° United States Circuit based in Atlanta. Trump met with Barrett at the White House on Monday and said he could meet with Lagoa in Florida later this week.

Romney and other Republicans have rejected Democratic arguments that the Senate should wait until voters decide whether to re-elect Trump or elect Democratic challenger Joe Biden in November. A Reuters / Ipsos poll released on Sunday found that the majority of Americans, including many Republicans, also want the winner of the election to make the nomination.

“I intend to follow the Constitution and precedent when considering the president’s candidate,” Romney said.

Ginsburg, a pioneering advocate for gender equality who served on the court for 27 years, died Friday at age 87.

Democrats accuse Republican senators of hypocrisy and note that they refused to even consider Democratic President Barack Obama’s candidate for a vacant Supreme Court seat in 2016 because it was an election year.

Romney said that was not a concern for him, as Washington was torn between a Democratic White House and a Republican-led Senate that year, while this year Republicans control both.

“My liberal friends have grown used to the idea of ​​having a liberal court for many decades. And that is not written in the stars, ”Romney told reporters.

Four Republicans would have to join Democrats in opposing a confirmation vote to block the nomination. Only two have taken that position.

Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine said the Senate should not consider a candidate this year. Two Republican senators who had been the subject of some speculation about his position, Cory Gardner of Colorado and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, also made it clear that they support moving forward with the confirmation process.

There is enough support among Senate Republicans to hold a vote on the candidate before Nov. 3, according to two Republican aides who spoke on condition of anonymity.

‘The institution of the Senate’

House Democrat Chuck Schumer said the Supreme Court vote “can now destroy the institution of the Senate.” Schumer took steps to prevent Senate committees from doing business Tuesday afternoon in a token protest.

Public events of mourning for Ginsburg will be held in front of the Supreme Court on Wednesday and Thursday and on Capitol Hill on Friday.

Ginsburg’s replacement could steer the court in a more conservative direction on abortion, health care, gun rights, voting access, presidential powers and other spheres of American life.

Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said he spoke to Trump about Lagoa. Scott said electing the Cuban-American judge would help Trump in elections in states with large numbers of Latinos, including Florida, which is critical.

Barrett is the darling of conservative Christians, a key electorate for Trump.

Democrats have few, if any, options to avoid a vote.

Top congressional Democrats have downplayed possibilities like holding a second impeachment vote, withholding government funds that expire Sept. 30, or boycotting committee hearings.

“I’ve been here for a few years. You can slow things down but you can’t stop them, ”Dick Durbin, the second Senate Democrat, told reporters.

The Senate could also vote in a futile session after the election before a new Congress is sworn in on January 3.

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