Hogan: Nominee shouldn’t be pushed through

Republican Gov. Larry Hogan said it would be a mistake for the GOP-held U.S. Senate to confirm a Supreme Court nominee on a party-line vote ahead of November’s presidential election.

In an interview with The Texas Tribune Festival that ran Wednesday, Hogan called for an end to “partisan games” with the nation’s highest court in the wake of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death Friday.

“We can’t let her death create even more division in this country and perpetuate this toxic politics that I talked about earlier, that is creating so much gridlock in Washington,” Hogan said.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he will move forward with a vote on Republican President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace Ginsburg. Trump said he will announce the pick on Saturday. Four years ago, McConnell did not allow the Senate to vote on Democratic President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, whom he nominated eight months before the 2016 election.

In the interview, Hogan also targeted some Democrats who have called for “packing” the court, or expanding its bench of justices, or have “question[ed] the integrity of the court.” “There’s more than enough hypocrisy to go around on both sides,” Hogan said. “The American people deserve a dignified process.”

In the interview, Hogan also expressed condolences for Ginsburg’s family and loved ones, calling her a trailblazer for women’s rights and a “fierce advocate for justice.” He said he admired her friendship with the late Antonin Scalia, a staunchly conservative Supreme Court justice who died in 2016.

“She was a true public servant with a deep love of the law,” Hogan said. “She displayed incredible courage throughout her life, whether it was facing down discrimination in the workplace or fighting multiple personal battles with cancer, and she showed it’s possible to disagree without being disagreeable. That some things are above politics.”