Heritage Action Urges Senate GOP to Keep SCOTUS at 8 Justices If Hillary Wins

Heritage Action told Senate Republicans Thursday that the Supreme Court should remain with eight justices if Hillary Clinton is elected president.

"You've seen John McCain and others talk about the need to not confirm any liberal nominated to the Supreme Court," Dan Holler, Heritage Action's vice president of communications and government relations, told The Hill. "That's exactly the right position to have."

Heritage Action is the lobbying arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation.

The group said at a morning briefing in Washington that GOP senators should support an eight-member Supreme Court for possibly as long as five years.

The court has been without its ninth justice since Antonin Scalia died in February at age 79.

President Barack Obama has since nominated federal Appeals Court Judge Merrick Garland, but it has been blocked by Senate Republicans.

Holler told the Hill that Merrick's nomination could consume all of a Clinton presidency.

It's also "unacceptable" that moderate GOP senators should allow a President Clinton to make the court more liberal, he said.

Obstructing any nominee by Clinton will require "an immense amount of willpower" from Republicans in the upper chamber.

Arizona Sen. John McCain said last month that Republicans would unify against any Clinton nominee — though an aide later clarified that any offerings would be examined based on their qualifications.

Also last month, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told a legal news website that having eight justices on the high court was not unprecedented.

Cruz is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

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