McConnell says a Trump pick to replace Ginsburg on Supreme Court would get Senate vote
Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader who refused to bring to a confirmation vote President Barack Obama’s nominee to replace conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia upon his death in 2016 because it was an election year, announced Friday in the wake of news of the death of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg that President Donald Trump’s selection to replace Ginsburg will get a Senate vote. McConnell argued in a statement that began by paying tribute to Ginsburg’s 87 years of life and trailblazing career that the Senate majority in place at the time of Scalia’s sudden death had been put there to oppose Obama, while the Senate majority currently in place exists to pursue the Trump agenda. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer had moments earlier referenced McConnell’s 2016 words in stating the view that the American people should have a voice, through their votes in the presidential election, in the selection of the next Supreme Court justice, which had a 5-4 conservative majority prior to Ginsburg’s death. Election Day is 46 days away.