Graham, an institutionalist turned loyalist, to play key role in court fight
WASHINGTON — Four and a half years ago, Sen. Lindsey Graham sat across a conference table from his colleagues and issued them a dare.
“I want you to use my words against me,” said Graham, a South Carolina Republican with a flair for drama. Pointing with his index finger, Graham continued: “If there’s a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said let’s let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination.”
On Saturday, Graham was singing a different tune, pledging support for President Donald Trump in “any effort to move forward regarding the recent vacancy created by the passing of Justice Ginsburg.”
The stark turnabout from 2016 marked the latest chapter in Graham’s dramatic reinvention of himself during the Trump presidency, morphing from an old-school Senate institutionalist and bipartisan dealmaker to a stalwart soldier for the president’s agenda.
And it holds the potential to be one of his most consequential shifts. Graham is chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee charged with processing Supreme Court nominees and he is in the midst of a competitive re-election campaign that could factor closely into the fight for control of the upper chamber.
His comments Saturday, coming after less-decisive statements in the hours after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death Friday, amounted to the latest indication of how Republican leaders are rallying quickly around a strategy of seeking to fill her seat this year. That prospect has stoked widespread outrage among Senate Democrats, who are calling Republicans hypocrites for the move after blocking President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee in 2016 because they said the president chosen by voters that fall should make the pick.
But Republican leaders appeared determined to press ahead swiftly to fill the court vacancy with a conservative jurist.
Less clear is how rankand-file Republican senators will respond, with many in tough re-election races in states where Trump is not popular. Republicans hold a 53-to-47 majority in the Senate, meaning they can afford to lose no more than three members in a confirmation vote, should the entire Democratic caucus unite against Trump’s nominee.
They have already lost one.
“I do not believe that the Senate should vote on the nominee prior to the election,” Sen. Susan Collins, RMaine,
who is in a tough reelection fight, said in a statement. “In fairness to the American people, who will either be re-electing the President or selecting a new one, the decision on a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court should be made by the President who is elected on November 3rd.”
Collins’ reservations contrasted sharply with the comments from Graham, who is seeking a fourth term in the Senate. The contest has been tougher than many expected in a ruby red state Trump won easily in 2016, with recent polls showing Democrat Jaime Harrison in close competition with Graham.
Now, Graham will be at the center of what will likely be one of the most contentious confirmation battles in history, affording him an opportunity to demonstrate his loyalty to Trump. But some Democrats say his position could help amplify the arguments against his re-election.
“A lot of folks miss the Lindsey of old — and that’s why this race is so competitive,” said Steve Benjamin, the Democratic mayor of Columbia, S.C. “When it comes time to do what’s right and maybe not popular, it can be difficult for some.”
In the pre-Trump era, Graham showed a willingness to work with Democrats and was seen across the aisle as an effective partner on legislative and judicial showdowns. He voted for both of Obama’s Supreme Court nominees, drawing blowback from conservative activists for doing so. In 2005, he was part of the bipartisan Gang of 14 that resolved tensions surrounding President George W. Bush’s judicial nominees.
On Saturday, Graham faced intense criticism on social media as video clips of his 2016 comments about using his words against him were widely circulated.
Graham pointed on social media to recent comments in which he said he was prepared to move ahead with a Supreme Court nominee this year. “After Kavanaugh, the rules have changed as far as I’m concerned,” he told reporters in August, according to NBC News, citing the contentious battle over Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
Although the Democrats can’t successfully block a vote on a court nominee, they can deploy procedural maneuvers to drag out the overall confirmation process.
It was clear on Saturday that partisan rancor that has seized the Senate in recent years was only likely to intensify in the wake of the court vacancy. After a Democrat tweeted Graham’s 2016 quote inviting senators to use his rhetoric against him, one responded with a single word.
“Done,” wrote Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii.