Mitt Romney just held a short presser explaining that he supports Trump nominating a Supreme Court justice before the election and that nominee getting a vote:
My statement regarding the current Supreme Court vacancy: pic.twitter.com/6YO0dPWWXc
— Senator Mitt Romney (@SenatorRomney) September 22, 2020
Here’s more:
POLITICO – Sen. Mitt Romney said he would support a floor vote on President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court, essentially clinching consideration of Trump’s nominee this year despite the impending election.
Just two Republican senators have asked for the party to put the brakes on the confirmation. And with a 53-seat majority, Senate Majority Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) now has the votes he needs to move forward with a nominee to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
“I intend to follow the Constitution and precedent in considering the president’s nominee. If the nominee reaches the Senate floor, I intend to vote based upon their qualifications,” the Utah Republican said in a statement.
Romney said he was merely following the law in making his decision rather than taking a position based on the recent blockade of President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, during the 2016 election. Romney said the “historical precedent of election year nominations is that the Senate generally does not confirm an opposing party’s nominee but does confirm a nominee of its own.”
He added that his decision is “not the result of a subjective test of ‘fairness’ which, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. It is based on the immutable fairness of following the law, which in this case is the Constitution and precedent.”
Though Romney’s position doesn’t mean Trump’s yet-to-be-named nominee will definitely have the votes to be confirmed, it does mean that McConnell and Trump can move forward without delay.
I admit I’m a little shocked that Romney is now on board with the Senate nominating someone before the election. I really believed he’d go full RINO here as he’s done so many times.
I also have to give Romney credit for poking Democrats in the eye with one of his answers:
Mitt Romney: "I recognize that we may have a Court which has more of a conservative bent than it has had over the last few decades, but my liberal friends have over many decades gotten used to the idea of having a liberal court and that's not written in the stars." pic.twitter.com/0lXXcAGrjQ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 22, 2020
I love how he said it’s not written in the stars for liberals to have a ‘liberal court’. And it sounds like from that answer that Romney would be voting in favor of Trump’s nominee and let’s hope he sticks to that. Because that would mean McConnell definitely has the votes and that is huge.