Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) made a stunning reversal of her position on filling the vacancy left by Ruth Bader Ginsburg. According to a report from Alaska Public Media, Murkowski now won’t rule out voting to confirm a nominee before the election.
“I know everybody wants to ask the question, ‘will you confirm the nominee?’” she said. “We don’t have a nominee yet. You and I don’t know who that is. And so I can’t confirm whether or not I can confirm a nominee when I don’t know who the nominee is.”
Murkowski was the second Republican to come out in opposition to filling the seat. “For weeks, I have stated that I would not support taking up a potential Supreme Court vacancy this close to the election. Sadly, what was then a hypothetical is now our reality, but my position has not changed,” she said in a statement on Sunday. “I did not support taking up a nomination eight months before the 2016 election to fill the vacancy created by the passing of Justice Scalia.”
“We are now even closer to the 2020 election – less than two months out – and I believe the same standard must apply,” she added.
Senator Mitt Romney surprised many of us when he said he’d not block the nomination. With Murkowski on board now, Mitch McConnell has even more wiggle room to get Trump’s nominee confirmed.
President Trump is expected to announce his nominee on Saturday.
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Matt Margolis is the author of the new book Airborne: How The Liberal Media Weaponized The Coronavirus Against Donald Trump, and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
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