SC’s Graham promises to hold hearing on Trump Supreme Court nominee and ‘do my job’
Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Monday while in his home state of South Carolina that he intends to move forward with confirmation hearings once President Donald Trump nominates someone to fill the seat of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
“I will be leading the charge to make sure that President Trump’s nominee has a hearing (and) goes to the United States Senate for a vote, because that is my job, and I believe I am doing what the people of South Carolina want me to do in this regard,” said Graham, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.
As Graham spoke Monday at a Republican unity lunch in North Charleston, the roughly 30 attendees, all Charleston-area GOP faithful, responded with head nods. When Graham spoke of his plans to advance Trump’s Supreme Court nominee forward during an election year, they broke into applause.
As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Graham would oversee confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominees.
”I intend to do my job as chairman of the Judiciary Committee,” Graham said. ”My job is to have hearings, and when the nomination comes over, to timely process this nominee. And I intend to vote for the nominee to be sent (to the Senate for a vote).”
President Trump in an interview Monday morning on “Fox & Friends” said he plans to announce his Supreme Court nominee pick either Friday or Saturday, after funeral services for Ginsburg.
Ginsburg, who was the second woman appointed to the nation’s highest court, died Friday. She was 87.
“Justice Ginsburg is one of the most accomplished women to ever serve on the court. She was a trailblazer, and her passing should be mourned, and her life should be celebrated. But under the Constitution, we have a job to do,” Graham said.
Shortly after Ginsburg’s death was announced on Friday, NPR published Ginsburg’s dying wish, as told to her granddaughter Clara Spera. “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed,” the statement from the late justice said.
Trump, in his Monday interview on Fox News, questioned whether Ginsburg wanted that.
“I don’t know that she said that, or was that written out by Adam Schiff and Schumer and Pelosi,” the president said. “I would be more inclined to the second.”
Graham is facing a tough re-election challenge from Democrat Jaime Harrison. Both have proved to be capable fundraisers, bringing in millions of dollars and allowing them to advertise heavily on television screens and digital platforms.
Following recent polling, Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics moved the state’s U.S. Senate race from “likely Republican” to “lean Republican,” while continuing to view Graham as the favorite to win.
Already, Graham is facing public pressure to rethink his position to move forward with a Supreme Court nominee.
Over the weekend, the 10 Judiciary Committee Democrats sent a letter to Graham, urging him to “state unequivocally and publicly that you will not consider any nominee to fill Justice Ginsburg’s seat until after the next President is inaugurated.”
“There cannot be one set of rules for a Republican President and one set for a Democratic President, and considering a nominee before the next inauguration would be wholly inappropriate,” they wrote.
Graham spent the weekend pushing back on old video clips that showed him saying vacancies during the last year of a presidential term should be held over until after an election.
Graham said rule changes by former U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid to allow a simple majority vote for Circuit Court nominees as well as treatment of Brett Kavanaugh by Democrats during his confirmation hearing led to the change of heart.
”It changed everything for me about the way the process works. After having voted for their judges,” Graham said, referring to the nominees put forth by Democratic presidents, “I witnessed the wholesale destruction of a good man’s life.”
Graham reiterated that he voted for then-President Barack Obama’s nominees — Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan — because they were qualified for the position.
Graham added the failed Supreme Court nomination of Robert Bork in 1987, and the contentious hearing for Justice Clarence Thomas in the 1990s was “an effort to destroy conservative judges.”
Demonstrators who gathered outside Graham’s Washington home before 6 a.m. Monday saw it differently. At one point, the protesters used a megaphone to amplify a recording of Graham’s words from 2016 and attempted to knock on the senator’s door, according to reports from Washington media.
Graham said he did not know who all was on Trump’s list of nominees, but he did affirm that all of them are “outstanding women.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said the Senate will vote on President Trump’s nominee to replace Ginsburg.
“Americans reelected 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. Once again, we will keep our promise,” McConnell said Friday in a statement.
At the end of the event in North Charleston, Graham, joined by fellow Republican U.S. Sen Tim Scott, shuffled through the back entrance of the restaurant. When they emerged, neither took questions from reporters. Instead, they made little eye contact and climbed into their respective black SUVs.
Then, they waved.
This story was originally published September 21, 2020 at 2:48 PM.
