Gingrich: Schumer position on Supreme Court ‘indefensible’

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said Monday that Minority Leader Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) stance on leaving the Supreme Court vacancy open is “nutty” and indefensible.”

“The pressure on Schumer to be left wing and obstructionist is enormous, and he’s caving into it,” Gingrich told “Fox and Friends.”

Schumer said over the weekend that Democrats would oppose a nominee for the Supreme Court if President Trump does not choose a nominee who is “mainstream.”

“If the nominee is not bipartisan and mainstream, we absolutely will keep the seat open,” Schumer told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.

{mosads}Democrats have leverage in the confirmation of a Supreme Court justice, since 60 votes are required to overcome procedural objections. Republicans have just 52 seats in the Senate and will need Democrats to back a Supreme Court nominee.

Gingrich said Schumer’s position on the nation’s highest court “is hopeless.”

“He’s only going to support a Supreme Court nominee that he approves of? Well, he ain’t president of the United States. He didn’t get elected. It’s a nutty and indefensible position that Schumer has taken,” Gingrich added.

Democrats were angered in the last Congress over the refusal by the GOP-controlled Senate to hold a vote, or even a hearing, for Merrick Garland, former President Obama’s nominee to fill the seat of Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016.