‘Nothing off the table’ for Democrats to stop Trump high court nominee — including impeachment

by WorldTribune Staff, September 20, 2020

Nothing is too extreme for Democrats as they plot to stop President Donald Trump from nominating a Supreme Court replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“Nothing is off the table,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer stressed.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Asked by ABC News personality George Stephanopoulos if another impeachment is on the table, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not rule it out.

“We have arrows in our quiver that I’m not about to discuss right now, but the fact is we have a big challenge in our country,” Pelosi said on Sunday’s broadcast of ABC’s “This Week”.

Stephanopoulos asked: “To be clear, you’re not taking any arrows out of your quiver and not ruling anything out.”

Pelosi responded: “Yeah, we have a responsibility. We’ve taken an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. We have a responsibility to meet the needs of the American people. That is when we weigh the equities of protecting our democracy requires us to use every arrow in our quiver.”

Schumer warned Republicans against pushing through Trump’s nominee: “Let me be clear: If Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans move forward with this, then nothing is off the table for next year. Nothing is off the table,” the New YorkDemocrat told the Senate Democratic caucus during a rare Saturday conference call, reports said, citing a source on the call.

“Everything Americans value is at stake. Health care, protections for preexisting conditions, women’s rights, gay rights, workers’ rights, labor rights, voting rights, civil rights, climate change and so much else is at risk,” Schumer said during the call, according to the source.

During a MAGA rally in North Carolina on Saturday, Trump promised to put forth a female nominee in the coming week to fill the vacancy created by the death of Ginsburg. The president said he will push the Republican-controlled Senate to consider his pick without delay.

The three women analysts say are at the top of Trump’s list are federal appeals court judges: Amy Coney Barrett, beloved among conservatives and an early favorite; Barbara Lagoa, who is Hispanic and comes from the battleground state of Florida; and Allison Jones Rushing, who clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas and for Neil Gorsuch, when the current Trump-appointed justice was an appeals court judge.

A Marquette University poll released Saturday, which had been conducted prior to the news of Ginsburg’s death, found that a majority of Americans said the Senate should hold confirmation hearings in the event of a Supreme Court vacancy this year.

The poll, conducted Sept. 8-15, found that “a substantial majority” of respondents, or 67 percent, believe the Senate should proceed with confirmation hearings this year if a vacancy occurred. Most notably, the survey found that the majority view does not tend to vary by party affiliation.

Seventy-one percent of independents in the poll said the Senate should hold hearings, followed by 68 percent of Republicans and 63 percent of Democrats.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pledged to Trump in a phone call Friday night to bring the choice to a vote though he has not said if it would be before the election.

“Americans re-elected our majority in 2016 and expanded it in 2018 because we pledged to work with President Trump and support his agenda, particularly his outstanding appointments to the federal judiciary,” McConnell said. “Once again, we will keep our promise. President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.”

Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren accused McConnell of seeking to hijack the confirmation process.

“Today Mitch McConnell and his henchmen think they can ram through a Supreme Court justice only 45 days before the election,” Warren said. “What Mitch McConnell doesn’t understand is that the fight has just begun.”

Democrat Sen. Ed Markey tweeted that if McConnell does hold a confirmation vote, then if Democrats win control of the Senate in November they should abolish the filibuster and add seats to the Supreme Court so it would have more than nine justices. They would only do this, however, if former Joe Biden defeats Trump.

McConnell said on the Senate floor: “The far left is salivating over the prospect of killing the filibuster in order to pack the Supreme Court, pack the Senate with new states, tilt the playing field permanently so they can never lose power again.”

Schumer has not ruled out trying to get rid of the filibuster if Democrats are able to win the majority in November. Asked about the filibuster during a radio interview in August, Schumer said Democrats would “do what it takes” to enact their agenda if they win the Senate and Biden wins the White House.

“What we are saying, what I am saying, is … we have a moral imperative to the people of America to get a whole lot done if we get the majority, which God willing we will, and keep it in the House, and Biden becomes president, and nothing is off the table,” Schumer said in August.

Biden said through his handlers that any selection should come after Nov. 3. “Voters should pick the president and the president should pick the justice to consider,” he said.

The Associated Press noted: “The next pick could shape important decisions beyond abortion rights, including any legal challenges that may stem from the 2020 election. In the interim, if the court were to take cases with eight justices, 4-4 ties would revert the decision to a lower court; for instance, the Affordable Care Act could then be struck down by a lower Texas court.”


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