Arizona Sen. John McCain on Monday pledged that a Republican-controlled Senate would block any Supreme Court nominee Hillary Clinton would put forward.
McCain told WPHT that the looming court fight will be different from Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation process under President Obama, as the Arizona senator said no Republican would break ranks.
“I promise you that we will be united against any Supreme Court nominee that Hillary Clinton, if she were president, would put up,” McCain told the Pennsylvania radio station. “I promise you. This is where we need the majority and Pat Toomey is probably as articulate and effective on the floor of the Senate as anyone that I have encountered.”
McCain also said he was not sure whether Donald Trump would be a better president than Clinton in regards to the Supreme Court because “I hear him saying a lot of different things.”
The senator’s decision to publicly put a marker down on how congressional Republicans would respond to any Supreme Court nominee from Clinton could become a topic of discussion during the third and final presidential debate on Wednesday.
UPDATE: McCain’s Senate staff looked to clarify his remarks in an email to the Washington Examiner on Monday afternoon.
“Senator McCain believes you can only judge people by their record and Hillary Clinton has a clear record of supporting liberal judicial nominees,” said McCain spokeswoman Rachael Dean. “That being said, Senator McCain will, of course, thoroughly examine the record of any Supreme Court nominee put before the Senate and vote for or against that individual based on their qualifications as he has done throughout his career.”
