09.19.20

Get The Facts: What Leader McConnell Actually Said In 2016

Leader McConnell Consistently Explained That A Senate Controlled By The Party Opposite That Of The President Hasn’t Filled A Supreme Court Vacancy In A Presidential Election Year For Over A Century

February 22, 2016
Very first Senate floor remarks following the death of Justice Scalia:

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH McCONNELL (R-KY): “Of course it’s within the president’s authority to nominate a successor even in this very rare circumstance — remember that the Senate has not filled a vacancy arising in an election year when there was divided government since 1888, almost 130 years ago … ” (Sen. McConnell, Remarks, 2/22/2016)

 

February 23, 2016:
Very first McConnell press availability following the death of Justice Scalia:

SEN. McCONNELL: “You did have to go back to 1888, when Grover Cleveland was president, to find the last time a vacancy created in a presidentially elected year was approved by a Senate of a different party. I think you all understand where we are.” (Sen. McConnell, Press Conference, 2/23/2016)

 

March 1, 2016:

SEN. McCONNELL: “[Y]ou’d have to go back to 1888 when Grover Cleveland was in the White House to find the last time a vacancy created in a presidential year was confirmed by the party opposite the occupant of the White House.” (Sen. McConnell, Press Conference, 3/01/2016)

 

March 20, 2016:

SEN. McCONNELL: “You have to go back to 1888 when Grover Cleveland was in the White House to find the last time when a vacancy was created in a presidential year, a Senate controlled [by the] party opposite the president confirmed.” (Fox’s “Fox News Sunday,” 3/20/2016)

SEN. McCONNELL: “You have to go back to Grover Cleveland in 1888 to find the last time a presidential appointment was confirmed by a Senate of the opposite party when the vacancy occurred in a presidential year.” (NBC’s “Meet the Press,” 3/20/2016)

 

March 22, 2016:

SEN. McCONNELL: “You’d have to go back to 1888, you do remember Grover Cleveland, right, to find the last time a vacancy created in the Supreme Court in a presidential year was confirmed by a Senate of a different party than the president.” ([Louisville] Courier Journal, 3/22/2016)

 

April 5, 2016:

SEN. McCONNELL: “You’d have to go all the way back to 1888 with Grover Cleveland, a Democrat in the White House, to find the last time a Senate of the opposite party confirmed a nominee to a vacancy on the Supreme Court occurring in a presidential year.” (The Hugh Hewitt Show, 4/05/2016)

 

November 9, 2016:

SEN. McCONNELL: “You’d have to go back to 1888 to find the last time a vacancy on the Supreme Court in the middle of a presidential election year was confirmed by the Senate of the opposite party of the President.” (Sen. McConnell, Press Conference, 11/09/2016)

 

February 5, 2017:

SEN. McCONNELL: “You would have to go back to the Grover Cleveland administration in 1888 to find the last time a Supreme Court vacancy in the middle of a presidential election year was confirmed by the Senate of an opposite party. Joe Biden said in 1992, a presidential election year, had a vacancy existed, they would not have filled it.” (CNN’s "State of the Union," 2/05/2017)

 

October 6, 2018:

SEN. McCONNELL: “Now look, let’s talk about 2016. I’m glad you brought it up. You’d have to go back to 1888 – 1888 – to find the last time a Senate controlled by a different party than the president filled a vacancy created during a presidential election year. I knew full well based upon what Joe Biden had volunteered in 1992 and Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid had volunteered in 2007 that who controls the Senate when you have a vacancy that close to the election makes a big difference. It’s not a doubt in anybody’s mind here that I’m sure that if the shoe was on the other foot in 2016 and there had been a Republican president making a nomination to a Democratic Senate it wouldn’t have been filled. So we’ll see what it looks like in 2020. First, do we have a vacancy? Second, who is in charge of the Senate?” (Sen. McConnell, Press Conference, 10/06/2018)

 

October 7, 2018:

SEN. McCONNELL: “The Senate is not broken. We didn’t attack Merrick Garland’s background and try to destroy him. We didn’t go on a search and destroy mission. We simply followed the tradition in America, which is if you have a … Senate of a different party than the president, you don’t fill a vacancy created in the presidential year. That went all the way back to 1888. … So what we did was follow tradition. (Fox’s “Fox News Sunday,” 10/07/2018)

 

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019:

HUGH HEWITT: “However, you’ve said you will fill a SCOTUS vacancy if one occurs in an election year this year, and he said that’s hypocritical. And I said no, it’s not. Senator McConnell said last, when the vacancy occurred, that the Senate is a majoritarian institution that Harry Reid created when it comes to nominations. The majority didn’t want to fill that vacancy in 2016. The majority would want to fill a vacancy in 2020. Is that a fair characterization of your position?”
SEN. McCONNELL: “Absolutely. You’re absolutely correct. In fact, you have to go back to [the] 1880s to find the last time a Senate of a different party from the president filled a Supreme Court vacancy created in the middle of a presidential election. That was entirely the precedent. That was confirmed again by Joe Biden in ’92, by Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer in 2007. There were not vacancies existing at the time, but that was the time when the other party controlled the Senate. There was a Republican in the White House. They were quite forthcoming about that.” (The Hugh Hewitt Show, 9/3/2019)

 

DECEMBER 18, 2019:

HUGH HEWITT: “Let me give an early Christmas present to everyone who is listening. If there is a vacancy by, retirement or any other reason in the year coming up, and I believe it is your position you will fill it, because the majority is in the hands of the party of the President. Am I right?”
SEN. McCONNELL: “You are entirely correct, and people chose to kind of misinterpret what I said in 2016. You had to go back to the 1880s to find the last time a Supreme Court vacancy occurring in the middle of a presidential election year was confirmed by a Senate of a different party than the president. So yes, we would certainly confirm a new justice if we had that opportunity. And we’re going to continue, obviously, to fill the Circuit and district court vacancies as they occur right up until the end of next year.” (The Hugh Hewitt Show, 12/18/2019)

 

FEBRUARY 13, 2020:

FOX NEWS’ BRETT BAIER: “If the Supreme Court seat were to open up before the November election, would you hold that seat open like you did for Merrick Garland, that rule, to let voters decide which presidential candidate should pick the next justice?”
SEN. McCONNELL: “Let me remind you what I said in 2016. I said, you’d have to go back to the 1880s to find the last time a vacancy on the Supreme Court, occurring during a presidential election year was confirmed by a Senate of a different party than the president. That was the situation in 2016. That would not be the situation in 2020. I'm not aware of any vacancy, but if you're asking me a hypothetical about -”
BAIER: “I am.”
SEN. McCONNELL: “-- whether this Republican Senate would confirm a member of the Supreme Court to a vacancy they created this year –”
BAIER: “Before November.” MCCONNELL: “Yes. We would fill it.”
BAIER: “And wouldn’t you hear howls –”
SEN. MCCONNELL: “I would, but I’d also remind everybody what I just told you, which is the Senate is in the same -- of the same party as the president of the United States. And in that situation we would confirm.”
BAIER: “Will there be any judicial vacancies left unfilled?”
SEN. MCCONNELL: “I hope not.” (Fox News, 2/13/2020)

 

MARCH 31, 2020:

HUGH HEWITT: “Now Senator, I’ve never done an interview with you without bringing up judges. So you’ve got a 5th Circuit nominee yesterday. When the Senate comes back, will you be acting on judges? And part two, have you heard anything about any retirements from the Supreme Court?”
SEN. McCONNELL: “I’ve heard nothing about any retirements at the Supreme Court, but of course, we will go back to judges. You know, Hugh, you and I have talked about this before. My motto for the rest of the year is leave no vacancy behind.” (The Hugh Hewitt Show, 3/31/2020)

 

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Related Issues: Supreme Court, Judicial Nominations