SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) speaks to the media on May 12, 2020. (Photo: Michael Brochstein/Echoes Wire/Barcroft Media/Getty Images)
Supreme Court Election Year Vacancy 'Would be Different' This Time From Merrick Garland in 2016, Says Lindsey Graham
"These people don't even have an ounce of shame."
May 16, 2020
Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Lindsey Graham said in an interview airing Sunday that the public should not expect a vacancy on the Supreme Court to remain open this election year, despite what happened last time.
Graham, a South Carolina Republican, told journalist Greta Van Susteren that 2020 presents a different situation than in 2016 when Merrick Garland's nomination languished ahead of the election when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) denied then-President Barack Obama the opportunity to replace Justice Antonin Scalia upon Scalia's death. President Donald Trump appointed Neil Gorsuch to the seat in 2017.
"Well, Merrick Garland was a different situation," Graham said. "You had the president of one party nominating, and you had the Senate in the hands of the other party."
"A situation where you've got them both would be different," the senator added.
During his remarks to Van Susteren's Full Court Press With Greta Van Susteren show for Gray Television, Graham made a highly technical distinction between 2016 and 2020 that seemed to rely mostly on justifying the reversal based on the current circumstances rather than going on the example from just four years ago.
"If you look into the history of the country, there had not been an occasion where somebody was confirmed in a presidential election year after primary started when you had divided government," said Graham.
Senate Republicans have made no secret of the ongoing efforts to transform the federal judiciary. As Common Dreams reported on May 4, McConnell's intention to ram through judicial nominees even in the face of the coronavirus outbreak sparked a call from over 40 groups for the Senate to slow down on the process during the pandemic.
"The Senate Judiciary Committee, and the Senate as a whole, must take the necessary and commonsense action of putting the processing of judicial nominations on hold until the devastating impact of the pandemic has been diminished," the groups demanded in an open letter.
But those appeals have not had much effect on the GOP leadership.
"My motto for the year is leave no vacancy behind," McConnell told radio host Hugh Hewitt in an interview in April. "That hasn't changed."
Graham echoed those comments in his interview with Van Susteren.
"Appointing judges is a high priority for me in 2020," said Graham.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Lindsey Graham said in an interview airing Sunday that the public should not expect a vacancy on the Supreme Court to remain open this election year, despite what happened last time.
Graham, a South Carolina Republican, told journalist Greta Van Susteren that 2020 presents a different situation than in 2016 when Merrick Garland's nomination languished ahead of the election when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) denied then-President Barack Obama the opportunity to replace Justice Antonin Scalia upon Scalia's death. President Donald Trump appointed Neil Gorsuch to the seat in 2017.
"Well, Merrick Garland was a different situation," Graham said. "You had the president of one party nominating, and you had the Senate in the hands of the other party."
"A situation where you've got them both would be different," the senator added.
During his remarks to Van Susteren's Full Court Press With Greta Van Susteren show for Gray Television, Graham made a highly technical distinction between 2016 and 2020 that seemed to rely mostly on justifying the reversal based on the current circumstances rather than going on the example from just four years ago.
"If you look into the history of the country, there had not been an occasion where somebody was confirmed in a presidential election year after primary started when you had divided government," said Graham.
Senate Republicans have made no secret of the ongoing efforts to transform the federal judiciary. As Common Dreams reported on May 4, McConnell's intention to ram through judicial nominees even in the face of the coronavirus outbreak sparked a call from over 40 groups for the Senate to slow down on the process during the pandemic.
"The Senate Judiciary Committee, and the Senate as a whole, must take the necessary and commonsense action of putting the processing of judicial nominations on hold until the devastating impact of the pandemic has been diminished," the groups demanded in an open letter.
But those appeals have not had much effect on the GOP leadership.
"My motto for the year is leave no vacancy behind," McConnell told radio host Hugh Hewitt in an interview in April. "That hasn't changed."
Graham echoed those comments in his interview with Van Susteren.
"Appointing judges is a high priority for me in 2020," said Graham.
Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Lindsey Graham said in an interview airing Sunday that the public should not expect a vacancy on the Supreme Court to remain open this election year, despite what happened last time.
Graham, a South Carolina Republican, told journalist Greta Van Susteren that 2020 presents a different situation than in 2016 when Merrick Garland's nomination languished ahead of the election when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) denied then-President Barack Obama the opportunity to replace Justice Antonin Scalia upon Scalia's death. President Donald Trump appointed Neil Gorsuch to the seat in 2017.
"Well, Merrick Garland was a different situation," Graham said. "You had the president of one party nominating, and you had the Senate in the hands of the other party."
"A situation where you've got them both would be different," the senator added.
During his remarks to Van Susteren's Full Court Press With Greta Van Susteren show for Gray Television, Graham made a highly technical distinction between 2016 and 2020 that seemed to rely mostly on justifying the reversal based on the current circumstances rather than going on the example from just four years ago.
"If you look into the history of the country, there had not been an occasion where somebody was confirmed in a presidential election year after primary started when you had divided government," said Graham.
Senate Republicans have made no secret of the ongoing efforts to transform the federal judiciary. As Common Dreams reported on May 4, McConnell's intention to ram through judicial nominees even in the face of the coronavirus outbreak sparked a call from over 40 groups for the Senate to slow down on the process during the pandemic.
"The Senate Judiciary Committee, and the Senate as a whole, must take the necessary and commonsense action of putting the processing of judicial nominations on hold until the devastating impact of the pandemic has been diminished," the groups demanded in an open letter.
But those appeals have not had much effect on the GOP leadership.
"My motto for the year is leave no vacancy behind," McConnell told radio host Hugh Hewitt in an interview in April. "That hasn't changed."
Graham echoed those comments in his interview with Van Susteren.
"Appointing judges is a high priority for me in 2020," said Graham.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.