McConnell Brags About Blocking Garland from the Supreme Court in 2016 to Let Voters Decide, But Says Nothing About Ramming Through Amy Coney Barrett in 2020
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) took credit on Tuesday for blocking the nomination of Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016 because he said he wanted the presidential election to happen first.
Yet, he said nothing of hurriedly shepherding through Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination in 2020.
Appearing on Tuesday’s Kudlow, Larry Kudlow told McConnell that justices appointed by Donald Trump are “changing America.”
“I did choose not to fill the vacancy when Justice Scalia passed away before the 2016 election,” McConnell stated. “I was the majority leader at the time, setting the agenda. I thought it’d be a good idea to see what the American people wanted to do in their next president. And it turned out very well. President Trump had good advice. He picked good people. Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and, it is changing America.”
However, McConnell did not explain why he did not apply the same standard in 2020 and Kudlow did not bother asking.
McConnell was the majority leader in February 2016, when Justice Antonin Scalia died. When President Barack Obama nominated Garland to the court, McConnell refused him a hearing.
“The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice,” McConnell said at the time. “Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”
Of course, Donald Trump was elected president later that year and nominated Neil Gorsuch, who was confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate.
However, four and a half years later when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in September 2020, McConnell didn’t think twice about ramming through Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett with the election just around the corner.
Scalia’s death temporarily eliminated the conservative majority in 2016, rendering a 4-4 ideological split among the justices. Ultimately, Trump ended up appointing three justices and there is now a 6-3 conservative majority.
Watch above via Fox Business Network.
