Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Sunday rejected the idea that the Republican Senate might suddenly decide to approve President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee during the lame duck session, over fears that a new Democratic president might pick a more liberal nominee.
“I can’t imagine that a Republican majority in the United States Senate would want to confirm, in a lame-duck session, a nominee opposed by the National Rifle Association, the National Federation of Independent Businesses. ..,” the Kentucky Republican said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Last week, some said a GOP reversal is possible after the election, especially if Hillary Clinton wins the White House, or if Republicans lose the Senate. That could put the GOP in a position of suddenly accepting Obama’s decision to nominate Judge Merrick Garland, who many Republicans have supported before.
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said last week that Republicans should flip if that happens. But on Sunday, when asked if Flake was wrong, McConnell said, “Yeah, I think so.”
“Barack Obama calling … this judge a moderate doesn’t make him a moderate. This judge would move the court dramatically to the left, he’s enthusiastically supported by MoveOn.org,” McConnell said.
McConnnell stressed that even if the GOP knows it lost the Senate, and that a more liberal judge might follow in 2017, Republicans have no plans to cave.
“I can’t imagine that … a Republican majority Senate, even if it were soon to be a minority, would want to confirm a judge that would move the court dramatically to the left,” he said. “That’s not going to happen.”
