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Indiana Sen. Mike Braun said Tuesday morning that he supports the Senate taking a confirmation vote on a nominee to replace Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the November election.
He was joined later in the day by senior Indiana Sen. Todd Young.
“I think it’s important that we do this prior to the election,” Braun said in a news conference Tuesday. “(Republicans) do control the presidency and the Senate. And I think the majority of Hoosiers who elected me would be disappointed if we didn’t do the vote.”
Braun, a first-term Republican, said he thinks Trump should pick Amy Coney Barrett because of her judicial record. Barrett has served on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago for three years.
If the Senate vote gets delayed, however, Braun said his own vote won’t change: “It’s going to be on the merits of the case, regardless of whether it happens before or after the election.”
Young weighed in Tuesday afternoon.
“We will act because the American people want us to act,” he said. “The people of Indiana in particular want me to act on this forthcoming nomination.”
Young earlier paid tribute to Ginsburg’s legacy.
“Justice Ginsburg was a trailblazer in the legal profession, rising to become the second female to serve on the nation’s highest court and earning a special place in our nation’s history,” Young said. “Her commitment to public service will continue to inspire future generations of Americans.”
On Monday, Indiana Democratic Party Chairman John Zody pointed to Young’s remarks after Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in 2016. Young, a congressman at the time, said then that senators should “let the people decide our next Supreme Court Justice.”
“There’s no wiggle room for maneuvering. Either Todd Young believes the people should decide or he’s just another spineless politician without a moral compass and unaccountable to his own words,” Zody said in a statement.
The senior senator from Indiana is expected to give remarks on filling the Supreme Court seat Tuesday afternoon.
Senate Republicans have swiftly fallen in line behind President Donald Trump’s push to fill the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court seat as one of the last holdouts, Sen. Mitt Romney, said Tuesday he supports a vote despite Democrats’ objections it’s too close to the Nov. 3 election.
Trump, who will announce his nominee Saturday, is all but certain to have the votes to confirm his choice.
“I guess we have all the votes we’re going to need,” Trump told WJBX FOX 2 in Detroit on Tuesday, “I think it’s going to happen.”
Conservatives are pushing for a vote before Election Day. Republicans hold a slim 53-47 majority in the Senate, and a simple majority is needed for confirmation. But with early voting for president already underway in several states, all sides are girding for a wrenching Senate battle
Romney, R-Utah, backed up his decision by saying it’s not “written in the stars” that the court should have a liberal bent, and Trump’s pick will tip the nation’s high court to become more conservative.
It’s “appropriate,” he told reporters at the Capitol, “for a nation which is, if you will, center right, to have a court which reflects a set of right points of view.”
Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have launched one of the quickest confirmation processes in modern times. No court nominee in U.S. history has been considered so close to a presidential election.
McConnell was holding private meetings at the Capitol and later at GOP campaign headquarters to assess next steps.
Democrats, led by presidential nominee Joe Biden, vow a tough fight but need four GOP defections to block consideration. So far, two Republicans have said they oppose taking up a nomination at this time, but no others are in sight. Under Senate rules, Vice President Mike Pence can break a tie vote.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, who will shepherd the nomination through the chamber, said Republicans have the support they need. Hearings could start in early October, aides said.
“The nominee is going to be supported by every Republican in the Judiciary Committee,” Graham, who faces his own tough reelection in South Carolina, told Fox News. “We’ve got the votes to confirm the justice on the floor of the Senate before the election and that’s what’s coming.”
Trump met with conservative Judge Amy Coney Barrett at the White House on Monday and told reporters he would interview other candidates and might meet with Judge Barbara Lagoa when he travels to Florida later this week. Conversations in the White House and McConnell’s office have been increasingly focused on Barrett and Lagoa, according to a person granted anonymity to discuss the private deliberations.
Barrett has long been favored by conservatives, and those familiar with the process said interest inside the White House seemed to be waning for Lagoa amid concerns she did not have a proven record as a conservative jurist. Lagoa has been pushed by some aides who tout her political advantages of being Hispanic and hailing from the key political battleground state of Florida.
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The country should be disappointed to A. rush for a nomination B. to have discussed a replacement before her body was even cold. No respect for other humans or the work RBG accomplished. Pathetic leadership all around.
Totally agree David.
No wonder honorable people despise politics and politicians
The world doesn’t stop when one person dies, Life still goes on.
Oh gee, what a surprise. But if a Democrat was in the WH Braun would be fighting to prevent it before the election. But likewise the Democrats who say it should not be before the election, would be doing exactly what the Republicans are trying to do it they held the WH. It’s called politics. And it’s destroying our country.
Why I left the Republican party, no ethics or morals and in political decline.
And the Dumbocrats have better ethics and higher moral standards, Tom? Tell that to the hundreds of Americans slaughtered in the womb every day with the Dumbocrat’s hearty support of the procedure.
Go sit in the corner, Bob.
Democrats would be doing the same thing and that is exactly what they did with Obamacare. Couldn’t get it passed in Senate so voted to approve version the house came up with. Party in power calls the shots.
Democrats would have kept RBG on life support and kicked the cord out if Biden ever got elected
Absolutely correct
Good one, Jeffery.
Well, Braun has lost my vote.
Of course they both do…… they’re spineless puppets for Master McConnell with no sense of what’s the right thing to do, they only know to do what McConnell tells them to do……
Totally agree, Jay C.. I can’t stand either one of them.
This is Indiana, what a surprise…
Showing what hypocrites they are as they kowtow to the guy on his way out.
Shameful.