Against long odds, liberal groups are launching a multimillion-dollar campaign against President Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick, seeking to pressure every Democratic senator and at least two Republicans to oppose whomever he nominates to succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy, The Hill reported on Sunday.
If every Democrat votes against the nomination, two Republicans would also have to reject the candidate in order to thwart Trump's choice, as the GOP holds a 51-49 advantage in the Senate.
Republican Sen. John McCain is seen as unlikely to vote due to his battle with brain cancer.
Progressives are especially pinning their hopes on GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, who both support abortion rights.
Collins told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that a candidate "who would overturn Roe v. Wade would not be acceptable to me, because that would indicate an activist agenda that I don't want to see a judge have. And that would indicate to me a failure to respect precedent of fundamental tenet of our judicial system."
However, both Collins and Murkowski supported Trump's last pick for the court, Neil Gorsuch, even though he was considered as likely to vote against abortion rights, The Hill reported.
What makes the effort of liberals even more difficult is that three Democratic Sens. – Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Joe Donnelly of Indiana – also voted for Gorsuch and will face intense pressure to back the president's nominee again, because they are running to keep their seats this November in states easily won by Trump in the presidential election.
As a sign of how heavy the pressure will be from the Republican side as well is the fact that all five of these key senators met with Trump at the White House on Thursday.
NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue vowed, however, that "This will be a 50-state campaign. Our members are fired up, our phones are ringing off the hook, and we are ready to fight this fight."
NARAL and other similar organizations have made it clear that they see the fight over a nominee as decisive, because Kennedy upheld Roe v. Wade in a 1992 decision and his decision to retire could lead to a majority of five conservative justices opposed to abortion rights.
In addition to the five swing senators, Hogue also cited Nevada Sen. Dean Heller as a key target for pressure.
He is seen as the most vulnerable Senate Republican up for re-election this year, since he is the only one running in a state won by Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Even if they fail to stop a Trump Supreme Court nomination, liberals hope the issue will at least encourage more Democratic supporters to vote in midterm elections and improve their chances of gaining control of the House and Senate.
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