04.02.17

McConnell on Fox News Sunday and NBC’s Meet the Press

'I think it is noteworthy that no Supreme Court justice has ever in the history of our country been stopped by a partisan filibuster- ever.'

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) appeared on Fox News Sunday and NBC’s Meet the Press this morning. The following are excerpts from his interviews:

Fox News Sunday

McConnell on Supreme Court Nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch

“I think it is noteworthy that no Supreme Court justice has ever in the history of our country been stopped by a partisan filibuster- ever.

“Judge Gorsuch deserves to be confirmed. [He is] unanimously well-qualified [as described] by the American Bar Association. My counterpart Senator Schumer once called it the ‘gold standard.’ [His rulings were] in the majority 99 percent of the time, 97 percent of his rulings were unanimous, only reversed one time in a case in which he participated by the Supreme Court.

“[T]hat’s why he will ultimately be confirmed. Exactly how that happens will be up to our Democratic colleagues.”

McConnell on the Russia Investigation

“I asked the Senate Intelligence Committee to investigate all of these allegations. Senator Burr and Senator Warner are going forward on a very constructive and bipartisan basis. The only thing I asked them to do was to find out what happened, and once they found out what happened, hopefully they will be able to issue a unanimous report and we will all know what, if anything, based on these allegations.”

Meet the Press

McConnell on the Democratic Filibuster of Supreme Court Nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch

“I can tell you that Neil Gorsuch will be confirmed this week. How that happens really depends on our Democratic friends. How many of them are willing to oppose cloture, on a partisan basis, to kill a Supreme Court nominee? Never happened before in history, in the whole history of the country.

“In fact, filibustering judges at all is a rather recent phenomena started by your next guest, Senator Schumer, after George Bush 43 got elected president. We didn't used to do this. Clarence Thomas was confirmed 52-48 the most controversial Supreme Court nominee in history. And not a single Senator said he has to get 60 votes.”

Related Issues: Judicial Nominations, Supreme Court, National Security, Nominations