Cornyn says no rush to fill court vacancy

Texas senator calls for deliberation on nominee but wants vote this year

WASHINGTON — As President Donald Trump prepares to swiftly name a Supreme Court nominee in hopes of having Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s replacement approved by the election, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and other Republicans are saying there’s no need to rush.

But Cornyn was clear: The Senate should move to fill the high-court vacancy before the end of the year, whether or not Trump and the GOP Senate majority — including Cornyn himself — will be returning to Washington in 2021.

“Just as the Senate has always done, we will thoroughly review the qualifications. We should not rush that process. It should be conducted carefully and consistently with how the Senate has previously handled Supreme Court nominations,” said Cornyn, who serves on the Senate Judiciary

Committee, during a speech on the Senate floor Monday. “The Senate will vote on that nominee sometime this year.”

Cornyn’s comments came as Trump said that he will name Ginsburg’s replacement Friday or Saturday — before Ginsburg, who died Friday after serving 27 years on the high court, is buried.

The president’s push, with the support of the Republican-led Senate, has launched a monumental confirmation fight ahead of the November election, one that is not likely to be resolved by Election Day, Nov. 3.

“We should not rush that process. It should be conducted carefully.”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas

The issue is reshaping the presidential race, which to this point has been largely a referendum on how Trump managed the COVID-19 pan

demic.

It seems certain to electrify both sides: Democrats were breaking fundraising records while a packed Trump crowd in North Carolina on Saturday loudly chanted, “Fill that seat.” But it remains unclear if the high-bench vacancy — which could impact everything from abortion rights to legal challenges of the 2020 election — would persuade disenchanted Republicans to return to Trump or fire up women or suburban voters to break for Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Democrats are protesting, saying that voters should speak first and that the winner of the White House should fill the vacancy. They’re also calling GOP lawmakers hypocrites for being on the other side of the same issue when they blocked then-President Barack Obama’s appointment of Merrick Garland to the high court in early 2016.

On the other hand, some Republicans including U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas have agreed with Trump on the need to move quickly, precisely because of the rapidly approaching election.

“We cannot have Election Day come and go with a 4-4 court,” Cruz said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Friday. “A 4-4 court that is equally divided cannot decide anything. And I think we risk a constitutional crisis if we do not have a nine-justice Supreme Court, particularly when there is such a risk of a contested election.”

Record time?

Announcing a nominee on Friday or Saturday would leave less than 40 days for the Senate to hold a confirmation vote before the election. No nominee has won confirmation that quickly since Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court in 1981.

The contours of the confirmation debate were already taking shape on Monday.

So far two Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have said they will not support a replacement before the election, as did the one Democrat who voted for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s last high-court nominee. Two more Republican defections could halt the confirmation — attention has focused on Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who are seen as two possibilities.

Democrats, meanwhile, are blasting the Republicans for denying even a hearing for Garland, whom Obama nominated to fill a vacancy left by Antonin Scalia after he died on a ranch in West Texas in February 2016. Obama nominated Garland in March, months before the 2016 election.

Early voting already has begun in several states in this year’s election and begins in Texas on Oct. 13.

“By flagrantly violating precedent they themselves championed when it served their agenda, Sen. Cornyn, Ted Cruz and Mitch McConnell are showing the American people once again that they lack the integrity to act in the best interests of our country,” said former Air Force pilot MJ Hegar, the Democrat running against Cornyn.

“The American voters know the Supreme Court is on the ballot,” Hegar said. “We will determine who we are as a country on Nov. 3, and it should be the president and Senate we elect who select a qualified individual to serve a lifetime appointment.”

Republicans say 2016 was different. Obama was barred from running again as he finished his second term, and the Senate was controlled by a different party than the White House. It has been more than a century since the Senate confirmed an election-year nominee by a president from a different party.

“Do you think we’d be hearing the same arguments from our friends across the aisle if Hillary Clinton were president?” Cornyn said. “If the American people had elected a Democratic president and a Democratic majority, I have no doubt that (Senate Minority Leader Chuck) Schumer would act on that nomination, as well.”

Female successor

Trump confirmed Monday that among the top contenders are Indiana’s Amy Coney Barrett and Florida’s Barbara Lagoa, both appellate court judges he appointed.

Barrett has long been a favorite among conservatives while Lagoa has been pushed by some aides who tout her political advantages of being Hispanic and hailing from the key battleground state of Florida.

Trump also indicated that Allison Jones Rushing, a 38year-old appellate judge from North Carolina, is on his short list. He has promised to nominate a woman for the high court, adding that his preference is for someone younger who could hold her seat for decades.

The president, meanwhile, went so far as to disparage reports that Ginsburg had told her granddaughter it was her wish that a replacement justice not be confirmed until the inauguration of a new president. Providing no evidence, Trump suggested that Democratic political foes were behind the report, including Rep. Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee chairman who led the chamber’s impeachment probe.

Schiff said Trump sank to “a new low” with that comment. He denied any involvement in Ginsburg’s dying wish but said he would “fight like hell to make it come true.”