McConnell: GOP Will Fill SCOTUS Seat by 2020 – If Necessary

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Republicans would go ahead and fill a Supreme Court vacancy in 2019 or 2020, if necessary

He argued circumstances are different now than in 2016 when the party held a seat open. McConnell had blocked President Barack Obama’s pick for the high court, Merrick Garland from getting a hearing, The Hill noted.

McConnell maintained there was a divided government in 2016, but not in 2019 or 2020 because the GOP controls both the White House and Senate.

"You have to go back to 1880 to find the last time, back to 1880s to find the last time a Senate of a different party from the president filled a Supreme Court vacancy created in the middle of a presidential election,” he said during an interview on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show on Tuesday. “That was entirely the precedent," he said.

"There was nothing I did that was, would not have been done had the shoe been on the other foot had there been a Republican president and a Democratic Senate. So look, they can whine about this all day. But under the Constitution, there is co-responsibility for appointments.

“The president makes the nomination and the Senate confirms. We are partners in the personnel business up to and including the U.S. Supreme Court.”

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