Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham will support President Donald Trump’s push to fill Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court seat before election day, he announced Saturday.
Graham’s statement was hit with criticism because of his comments in 2016 saying a SCOTUS justice should never be appointed in an election year. At the time he said his opponents should “use my words against me” if he ever reversed his position.
Graham now argues the situation has changed following the tactics Democrats resorted to in the battle to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
“The two biggest changes regarding the Senate and judicial confirmations that have occurred in the last decade have come from Democrats,” Graham said on Twitter. “Harry Reid changed the rules to allow a simple majority vote for Circuit Court nominees dealing out the minority. Chuck Schumer and his friends in the liberal media conspired to destroy the life of Brett Kavanaugh and hold that Supreme Court seat open.”
“In light of these two events, I will support President Donald Trump in any effort to move forward regarding the recent vacancy created by the passing of Justice Ginsburg,” he added.
The two biggest changes regarding the Senate and judicial confirmations that have occurred in the last decade have come from Democrats.
#1
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) September 19, 2020
* Harry Reid changed the rules to allow a simple majority vote for Circuit Court nominees dealing out the minority.
* Chuck Schumer and his friends in the liberal media conspired to destroy the life of Brett Kavanaugh and hold that Supreme Court seat open.
#2
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) September 19, 2020
In light of these two events, I will support President @realDonaldTrump in any effort to move forward regarding the recent vacancy created by the passing of Justice Ginsburg.
#3
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) September 19, 2020
Graham joins a number of Republican senators who have publicly backed Trump and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s push for a confirmation. Many politicians on both sides of the aisle find themselves saying the exact opposite of what they argued regarding election-year SCOTUS nominations in 2016. (RELATED: Schumer, Waters Warn Republicans Not To Try To Fill Ginsburg’s Seat Before Election)
“I want you to use my words against me. If there’s a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said let’s let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination.” pic.twitter.com/quD1K5j9pz
— Vanita Gupta (@vanitaguptaCR) September 19, 2020
Democrats have had their words thrown back at them as well, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urging Republicans in 2016 to move forward with President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland, but now urging Republicans to hold off until after the election.
So far only one Republican, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, has confirmed after Ginsburg’s death that she won’t support nominating a replacement until after the election. She has not said she will vote against such an attempt, only that she would not vote at all.