Any hopes Democrats had that Mitt Romney would oppose President Trump’s nomination to the Supreme Court have evaporated this morning.
Republicans hold a 53 seat majority in the Senate, meaning Democrats need four defectors to block a Trump nominee. So far Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski both voiced opposition, and Romney was the most likely to join them, but will not.
According to Fox News:
Romney said on Tuesday that he supports the Senate in moving forward with a Supreme Court nominee from President Trump ahead of the presidential election, further tipping the nomination math in favor of Republicans who want to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with a conservative.
“My decision regarding a Supreme Court nomination is not the result of a subjective test of ‘fairness’ which, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder,” Romney, R-Utah, said in a statement. “It is based on the immutable fairness of following the law, which in this case is the Constitution and precedent. The historical precedent of election year nominations is that the Senate generally does not confirm an opposing party’s nominee but does confirm a nominee of its own.”
The senator, who voted to remove Trump from office earlier this year, continued: “The Constitution gives the President the power to nominate and the Senate the authority to provide advice and consent on Supreme Court nominees. Accordingly, I intend to follow the Constitution and precedent in considering the President’s nominee. If the nominee reaches the Senate floor, I intend to vote based upon their qualifications.”
While Romney is often at odds with the President, he is siding with Republican voters on this issue, the overwhelming majority of which believe the seat should be filled. If a seat opened up on the Supreme Court during an election year when a Democrat was President they would (and recently have) tried to fill it. So why would we do it any differently?
My statement regarding the current Supreme Court vacancy: pic.twitter.com/6YO0dPWWXc
— Senator Mitt Romney (@SenatorRomney) September 22, 2020
Assuming that Romney isn’t merely hoping to move forward to then vote “no,” it’s a near guarantee that Republicans will be able to confirm whomever Trump nominates this Saturday.
I’m sure liberals will take the news calmly.
