Pelosi on whether House will move to impeach Trump over Supreme Court: 'We have arrows in our quiver'
by Anthony Leonardi
Washington Examiner
September 20, 2020
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned House Democrats have a list of options to responding to President Trump nominating a Supreme Court justice this year.
During an interview with ABC host George Stephanopoulos, the California Democrat would not dismiss the idea of another round of impeachment.
"Some have mentioned the possibility, if they try to push through a nominee in a lame duck session, that you in the House could move to impeach President Trump or Attorney General Barr as a way of stalling and preventing the Senate from acting on this nomination," Stephanopoulos said.
"We have our options. We have arrows in our quiver that I'm not about to discuss right now," Pelosi responded. She declined to discuss specific actions.
Stephanopoulos later pressed, "But to be clear, you're not taking any arrows out of your quiver. You're not ruling anything out?"
"Good morning, Sunday morning," Pelosi said with a smirk. "When we weigh the equities of protecting our democracy, it requires us to use every arrow in our quiver."
Trump said he expects to announce his nominee for the Supreme Court "next week" and will be picking a woman. Top Senate Republicans have said they will proceed with considering a nominee should Trump pick someone.
The House voted to impeach Trump in December over two Ukraine-related articles of impeachment. The GOP-led Senate aqcuited him in February.
In response, the GOP House Judiciary Committee called it "one of the most ridiculous ideas ever presented by @SpeakerPelosi. And that's saying something."
Article II of the Constitution specifically grants the president the responsibility of appointing justices to the Supreme Court by a process of "Advice and Consent of the Senate." However, Democrats have expressed outrage over Republicans not adhering to a 2016 precedent set by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, which prevented a Supreme Court confirmation during an election year.
Merrick Garland, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, was President Barack Obama's nominee in 2016 to replace the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. However, McConnell declined to allow the Senate to vote on his nomination, saying the new president should have the ability to fill the vacancy.
McConnell said during a Fox News interview in February that confirming a justice this year would be consistent with his opinion in 2016. "I said you'd have to go back to the 1880s to find the last time a vacancy on the Supreme Court, occurring during a presidential election year, was confirmed by a Senate of a different party than the president. That was the situation in 2016. That would not be the situation in 2020," he said.
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'If he holds a vote in 2020, we pack the court in 2021': Democrats threaten radical move to pack Supreme Court with extra justices if Trump's nomination goes through and they take the White House and the Senate
Daily Mail
September 20, 2020
Democrats have threatened to pack the Supreme Court if Donald Trump's nomination gets confirmed following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The president on Saturday urged the GOP-run Senate to consider 'without delay' his upcoming nomination to fill the seat vacated by Justice Ginsburg, who died Friday after a battle with cancer.
The move comes just six weeks before the election and has sparked fierce debate, with many Democrats - as well as some Republicans - insisting the seat must not be filled until after the election.
Several Democrats have vowed the party will expand the size of the court if they capture the White House and Senate in November and Republicans have already pushed through a conservative successor to Ginsburg.
Joe Kennedy III, who represents Massachusetts' 4th Congressional District and is the grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, tweeted Sunday: 'If he holds a vote in 2020, we pack the court in 2021. It's that simple.'
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler wrote on Twitter: 'If Sen. McConnell and @SenateGOP were to force through a nominee during the lame-duck session -- before a new Senate and President can take office - then the incoming Senate should immediately move to expand the Supreme Court.'
And Sen. Ed Markey tweeted Friday: 'Mitch McConnell set the precedent. No Supreme Court vacancies filled in an election year.
'If he violates it, when Democrats control the Senate in the next Congress, we must abolish the filibuster and expand the Supreme Court.'
2 comments:
Trying to impeach Trump over something he is constitutionally allowed to do is stupid and unhelpful.
@ Bob. You just described the current leadership of the Democrat Party.
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