Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said Monday that the Senate GOP has “got the votes” to confirm President Donald Trump’s impending nominee to sit on the Supreme Court.
“We’ve got the votes to confirm Justice Ginsburg’s replacement before the election,” Graham told Fox News’ “Hannity.”
“We’re going to move forward in the committee. We’re going to report the nomination out of the committee to the floor of the United States Senate so we can vote before the election. That’s the constitutional process,” Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said. (RELATED: Schumer And Ocasio-Cortez Say Americans Agree With Ginsburg’s Last Wish That SCOTUS Seat Be Filled By ‘A New President’)
Ginsburg passed away Friday at the age of 87.
Trump indicated Saturday that he intends to nominate a replacement “without delay” and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has promised to deliver a vote on that nomination.
“[Democrats] tried to destroy Brett Kavanaugh,” Graham said, referencing the allegations of sexual misconduct issued against the current Supreme Court justice. “I’ve seen this movie before,” Graham said, noting that the attacks “didn’t work.”
“After Kavanaugh, everything changed with me. They are not going to intimidate me, Mitch McConnell, or anybody else … We’re going to have a process that you’ll be proud of,” Graham said. He claimed that “every Republican in the Judiciary Committee” is prepared to support the nominee and that enough support exists from all Republican senators “to confirm the judge … on the floor of the Senate.”
“And that’s what’s coming,” he continued.
Graham suggested no “liberal justice” has ever been the focus of personal attacks the way Kavanaugh was. He warned that Democrats have a wide agenda to change the way America is governed by eliminating the Electoral College, adding new Senate seats by allowing statehood for Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. and stacking the Supreme Court with extra members. (RELATED: Lindsey Graham Backs Trump’s Push To Fill Ginsburg Seat)
“They’re going to take the process, the rules, and change them to their benefit,” Graham alleged.
Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill September 4, 2018 in Washington, DC. Kavanaugh was nominated by President Donald Trump to fill the vacancy on the court left by retiring Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Democrats are arguing that because Republicans opposed confirming former President Barack Obama Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland in the election year of 2016, they should not put forward a candidate just prior to the 2020 presidential election.
Graham also suggested he faced a serious threat for his own Senate seat by an opponent who is successfully raising money.
“I need conservatives to help me,” he said.