McConnell: The Supreme Court Seat Doesn’t Belong to Any President or Any Political Party
‘The election season is now over…It’s my sincere hope that our friends across the aisle will join us in thoughtfully reviewing and considering the next Supreme Court Justice. It’s the best way forward for the Senate, for the Court, and for the country.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding tonight’s Supreme Court announcement from President Trump:
“The president has said he will announce his choice for the Supreme Court shortly from a list of about 20 well-qualified Americans. It’s a list he shared publicly months ago. As I said yesterday, each of these potential nominees has a distinguished background — whether on the appellate courts or trial courts, whether at the state level or federal level.
“We look forward to the announcement of his nominee tonight, and we look forward to doing our job to fairly consider that nominee here in the Senate.
“Our friends across the aisle should treat this president’s nominee in the same manner as previous nominees of newly-elected presidents.
“This is not the time for our friends to embark on another partisan crusade. We’ve just been through a contentious election. It’s time to bring our country together. It’s disappointing that we’ve already started hearing some of the same, tired rhetoric from the Left — before the president even announces a nominee.
“Disappointing, but not surprising. The Left has been doing this for decades. Doesn't matter if the President is George H.W. Bush or Gerald Ford. Doesn't matter if the nominee is David Souter or John Paul Stevens. They'll warn of impending doom. They'll claim the end is nigh. They'll run through the required list of attacks — extreme-this…anti-that…herald of the apocalypse… — and then, miraculously, the sun will rise again in the East. The world will still keep on turning.
“I hope we can skip past the Left’s hyperbole this time. Unfortunately, we’ve heard our friend, the Democratic leader talk about fighting the president’s nominee ‘tooth-and-nail.’ We’ve heard that others in his party are preparing to mount a filibuster of this nominee and of course, they don’t even know who it is yet. That's really not productive. That's not what our country needs right now.
“We understand that some on the Left will never be pleased by any nominee that this president — or any Republican president, for that matter — puts forward. We know that some will continue to refuse to accept the results of the election.
“But our Democratic colleagues shouldn’t follow the Far Left down that harmful path for our country. We need to all remember that the Supreme Court seat doesn’t belong to any president or any political party.
“I’ve been clear all along that the next president — regardless of party — would name the next nominee for this seat. It’s a decision I stood by even when it seemed likely we’d have a Democrat in the White House. It’s worth repeating, of course, that this standard is not uniquely mine or even Senate Republicans’. There’s a reason this principle has been called not only the Biden Rule, but also the Schumer Standard.
“But look, the election season is now over. We have a new president. We each have a responsibility to be serious and move from campaign mode to governing mode. It’s my sincere hope that our friends across the aisle will join us in thoughtfully reviewing and considering the next Supreme Court Justice. It’s the best way forward for the Senate, for the Court, and for the country.”
Related Issues: Nominations, Judicial Nominations, Supreme Court
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