“President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate,” McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said in a statement Friday evening that sets GOP lawmakers on a collision path with Democrats, though the exact timing of such a fight — in particular how much of it would happen ahead of or after Election Day — was not immediately clear.
Senate Majority Whip John Thune, the number two GOP senator, backed McConnell, saying in a statement of his own, “I believe Americans sent a Republican president and a Republican Senate to Washington to ensure we have an impartial judiciary that upholds the Constitution and the rule of law. We will fulfill our obligation to them. As Leader McConnell has said, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the U.S. Senate.”
GOP aides are skeptical that there is enough time to confirm a nominee before November 3, given that Supreme Court nominees typically take two to three months to process, according to a review of recent confirmation proceedings.
But that process could be sped up if McConnell, who controls the majority of the chamber, has the votes to confirm a replacement, and there is enough time to confirm someone in a lame-duck session of Congress after the November elections.
That calculation is further complicated if Republicans lose control of the Senate and the White House after the election — and whether enough GOP senators would break ranks and oppose any nominee by a President who had just lost his election and a GOP Senate that just lost its majority.
Senate Republicans, who hold the majority in the upper chamber, only need 51 votes to confirm a new justice once one is formally nominated. Currently, there are 53 GOP senators — meaning they can only lose three Republicans. In the event of a 50-50 split, Vice President Mike Pence could cast a tie-breaking vote.
Already, Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine have said that there is not enough time to confirm someone before November.
Collins told The New York Times earlier this month that she’d oppose seating a nominee in a lame-duck session if Joe Biden wins the White House.
It’s unclear if more Republicans would break ranks.
CNN has reached out to Collins, Murkowski and Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah — among others — to seek their position on the matter.
In a message to GOP senators on Friday, McConnell urged his colleagues not to lock themselves into a position that they may regret later and counseled them to be cautious about what they are telling the media about their views on how to process the nomination, according to a person who saw the note. He urged them to “keep your powder dry.”
McConnell did not indicate a timeframe for considering the nomination but made clear he believes there’s enough time to take up the nominee this year.
While GOP Senate sources believe action on a nominee will likely wait until a post-election, lame-duck session of Congress, it’s possible it could be moved up for this reason: The possibility of court fights over the election results and the need for nine justices on the court to resolve any disputes.
A GOP Senate source said that this topic will be under discussion with senators as they decide whether to fast-track a nominee before November.
In July, Republican leaders signaled they would confirm a nominee this year.
“We will,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the second-ranking Republican leader, when asked if the Senate would fill a vacancy, even during the lame-duck session after the presidential election. “That would be part of this year. We would move on it.”
But Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham wasn’t sure if he would agree to that.
“I’d like to fill a vacancy. But we’d have to see. I don’t know how practical that would be,” Graham told CNN in July. “Let’s see what the market would bear.”
McConnell’s vow that a nominee would get a vote set up a clash with the top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer…
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