Mitch McConnell is going to keep blocking President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland even if that means Donald Trump ultimately gets to fill the court vacancy.
In a statement to reporters Wednesday morning, McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said that nothing has changed and McConnell still plans to wait to 2017 to allow the Senate to vote on a Supreme Court nominee.
“While I’m glad to see Democrats concede that there won’t be a Democrat in the White House next year, Republicans continue to believe that the American people should have a voice in this decision and the next president should make the nomination,” Stewart said. “Despite the White House coordinating with liberal groups and millions of dollars in special-interest ads, no Republican has moved from their principled position.”
Some conservatives from the “Never Trump” movement have been rumbling that McConnell should act on the Supreme Court now in order to avoid a situation where Trump looses and Hillary Clinton gets to pick the SCOTUS nominee.
“There is absolutely no reason to drag this out any longer. Garland is not a great choice, but he is not a terrible one, either,” Leon Wolf, the managing editor of the conservative Red State wrote Wednesday morning. ” And more than anything, he is old (for a modern Supreme Court appointment) and will be up for replacement in probably 10 years instead of 20 or 30.”
“Republicans must know that there is absolutely no chance that we will win the White House in 2016 now. They must also know that we are likely to lose the Senate as well. So the choices, essentially, are to confirm Garland and have another bite at the apple in a decade, or watch as President Clinton nominates someone who is radically more leftist and 10-15 years younger, and we are in no position to stop it.”
