Lindsey Graham muses about precedent as GOP senators defend refusal to consider SCOTUS nominee
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina expressed some misgivings on Thursday while joining fellow Republicans defending their refusal to consider a Supreme Court nominee.
Graham said Republicans were justified in their position, but he warned of the impact, report the New York Times, USA Today and the Huffington Post.
“We’re setting a precedent here today—Republicans are—that in the last year at least of a lame duck eight-year term, I would say it’s going to be a four-year term, that you are not going to fill a vacancy of the Supreme Court, based on what we are doing here today,” Graham said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. “That’s going to be the new rule.”
Graham also said that if Hillary Clinton wins the presidential election she would probably pick a nominee who is more liberal than anyone Obama is likely to choose at this time.
According to the Huffington Post account, “Graham’s blunt assessment came after nearly every other senator on the committee spent their time pointing to hypocritical statements from each other about confirming judges, and citing selective instances in history, to try to bolster their argument about moving a Supreme Court nominee in a president’s last year in office.”
