Senate GOP leaders refuse to commit to allowing Harris SCOTUS nominees up or down vote

30 September 2024

The two U.S. Senators most likely to succeed Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the former Senate Majority Leader, are already suggesting a policy of obstruction, refusing to commit to even allowing an up or down confirmation vote on any of Vice President Kamala Harris's potential Supreme Court nominees if she wins the White House and should the GOP take back control of the Senate.

With just 35 days until Election Day and five states currently in the early voting phase already, FiveThirtyEight reports its simulations give Vice President Harris a 59 to 41 chance of winning the presidency, but says this "could be the closest presidential election since 1876." Over in the Senate, some forecasters suggest Republicans are likely to take back control, although by an extremely slim margin.

Should those scenarios play out, U.S. Senator John Thune (R-SD), the current Senate Minority Whip, and U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), the leading candidates to become the next Senate Republican Leader, "would not commit to putting a Harris Supreme Court nominee on the floor for a confirmation vote," CNN reports.

“It depends,” Senator Cornyn told CNN's Manu Raju (video below), "when asked if a Harris Supreme Court pick would get a vote in a Senate that he would lead."

“Obviously, they would have to go through the committee process, and so it would depend on that. And then I think it would also depend on who the president nominates,” Cornyn explained. “If I’m in a position to make the decision, I’m not going to schedule a vote on some wild-eyed radical nominee, which I know she would love to nominate. But that would be my intention.”

Senator Thune (photo) is "blitzing through battleground states in the lead-up to the election, helping boost Republicans in their quest to take the Senate majority as he simultaneously vies to be their next leader," Fox News reports.

As for any possible Harris SCOTUS nominees, Senator Thune was equally non-committal, although less promising of even a committee hearing. As Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell in 2016 refused to give President Barack Obama's nominee to replace the Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia when he died any hearing, much less an up or down vote, effectively holding open a seat on the nation's highest court for a record 422 days.

“We’ll cross the bridge when we come to it,” Thune told CNN's Raju. “But, you know, it probably depends on who it is and that’s the advantage of having a Republican Senate.”

Watch CNN's report below or at this link.

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