Senate No. 2 Won’t Say If GOP Will Permanently Block Clinton’s SCOTUS Noms

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, delivers his victory speech after winning re-election to the U.S. Senate Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
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Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the Senate majority whip, wouldn’t say Tuesday if Republicans would permanently block Hillary Clinton’s Supreme Court nominees if she were elected president, as some GOP senators have been promising on the campaign trail.

In a radio interview with KFYO in Texas, Cornyn said he didn’t want to “speculate” about what Republicans should do if Clinton is elected and in a position to appoint Supreme Court justices.

“We need to see what happens at the election and we need – we’ve already got one vacancy that we need to deal with after this election. Hopefully this will be a nomination that will be made by Mr. Trump and not Mrs. Clinton, and I think we avoid all of the concerns that have been raised by Sen. Cruz and Sen. McCain,” Cornyn said. “So I prefer not to speculate at this point on what might happen. I’m still hopeful that we’ll elect the Republican nominee on November the eight and it will all be a moot point.”

The comments from the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, who is also a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, comes after Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) signaled he’d work to block Clinton’s nominees before clarifying that he’d consider each nominee’s qualifications before deciding. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said “there is long historical precedent for a Supreme Court with fewer justices.” And Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) said he would “do everything I can do to make sure four years from now, we still got an opening on the Supreme Court.”

Correction: An editing error misstated Cruz”s position on whether Supreme Court nominees should be considered throughout Clinton’s presidency.

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  1. Avatar for imkmu3 imkmu3 says:

    Who is he kidding? The mantra will be the same as the last 8 years. Obstruct, obstruct, and obstruct. They will block any and all Clinton appointments to the Supreme Court if they have the majority.

  2. Good to see more admissions from the republicans that this is nothing other than obstructionist tactics. The statement that a Trump win would lead to considering nominees shows they care about party more than country.

  3. If Hillary wins, the Republicans are going to declare out and out war against the Executive Branch.

    It’s going to be ugly in a way that made the Obama years look like a lovefest.

  4. Avatar for azjude azjude says:

    “We need to see what happens at the election”

    Understatement of the year!

    Come on voters, take the senate away from these worthless fools!

  5. Avatar for azjude azjude says:

    Then let’s take that majority away from them, shall we?

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