Democrats and the White House are slamming GOP senators over the Supreme Court vacancy after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) floated the idea that the nation’s top court could survive without a full bench.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, said it should be “alarming” to voters that some Republicans are pledging united opposition to a Hillary Clinton nominee or saying that the Supreme Court could go without nine justices for years.
{mosads}”These Republicans are proving that they have no intention of doing their jobs and that their blockade of judicial nominees is purely driven by politics,” he added. “This amounts to piecemeal evisceration of the Constitution.”
Leahy’s comments come after Cruz was asked whether a GOP Senate should vote on a Supreme Court nominee from Clinton if the Democrat wins the White House in November. Cruz said “there will be plenty of time for debate.”
“There is certainly long historical precedent for a Supreme Court with fewer justices,” the Texas senator said.
The comments — widely perceived as floating that Republicans could refuse to confirm a Supreme Court justice if Clinton wins — are sparking a quick wave of backlash from Democrats.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest, asked about Cruz’s comments, said it “certainly raises questions about the credibility and integrity of Republicans” who have said for months that the next president should fill the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat.
He added that vowing to oppose any Supreme Court nominee from a Democratic president is “more of the same kind of Republican congressional dysfunction that’s infected Washington for the last six years.”
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in a separate fundraising email for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) on Wednesday night warned that Democrats have to regain control of the Senate to restore “sanity to the Supreme Court.”
Cruz isn’t the first GOP senator to stir concern that Senate Republicans could decide to block any Supreme Court nominee from Clinton.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) pledged earlier this month that Republicans would be “united against” a potential pick.
But his staff quickly walked back those comments, and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said senators can’t “simply stonewall” Clinton on the Supreme Court.
The ongoing rhetorical battle comes as Republicans have spent months refusing to give President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, a hearing or a vote.
A small, but growing, number of GOP senators have opened the door to confirming Garland in an end-of-year lame-duck session, though GOP leadership still remains opposed to the idea.
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) has floated moving forward with Garland for months if Clinton wins. Meanwhile, Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) — who is in a tough reelection fight — told a local NPR station that she is open to considering Garland if Clinton indicated that she would renominate him anyway.
The Senate Democrats’ campaign arm also quickly jumped on Cruz’s comments Thursday, warning if Republicans keep the Senate majority, they’ll bring “more obstruction. More of the same.”
“After helping their party lead this unprecedented obstructionism, voters can expect GOP Senators and candidates to sign up for even more gridlock should they get back to Washington,” said Sam Lau, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
The campaign of Russ Feingold, a former Wisconsin senator running for his old seat, blasted out a note to reporters questioning if his opponent ,Sen. Ron Johnson (R), agrees with Cruz’s comments.
GOP Sens. Rob Portman (Ohio) and Pat Toomey (Pa.) — who like Johnson are up for reelection — have pledged to consider a Clinton Supreme Court nominee.