Politics

Report: McConnell Wanted Amy Coney Barrett Nominated Immediately — The Night Ruth Bader Ginsburg Passed

Senators Meet With Supreme Court Nominee Amy Coney Barrett

(Photo by Susan Walsh-Pool/Getty Images)

Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly wanted Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett nominated immediately — and he said as much the night the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed.

Josh Holmes, who served as McConnell’s chief of staff from 2010-2013, said in the Frontline documentary “Supreme Revenge: Battle for the Court” that McConnell was already pushing Trump to nominate Barrett just hours after the news broke that Ginsburg had died of metastatic pancreatic cancer.

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“McConnell said, ‘First, I’m going to put out a statement that says we’re going to fill the vacancy.’ Second, he said, ‘You’ve gotta nominate Amy Coney Barrett,'” Holmes explained.

Barrett marked the third Supreme Court Justice seated by McConnell’s Senate — following Justice Neil Gorsuch, who filled the seat vacated when the late Justice Antonin Scalia passed away in 2016, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who faced an ugly confirmation battle to take the seat Justice Anthony Kennedy left open when he retired in 2018.

Just prior to Barrett’s confirmation hearings, Dean Edwin Chemerinsky of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law explained the impact of McConnell propelling a third justice onto the nation’s highest court.

“Sen. McConnell already has played a huge role in shaping the Supreme Court for decades to come. A third confirmation, especially under these circumstances, would truly make this the McConnell Court for a long time to come,” he said.

Even prior to Barrett’s nomination and quick confirmation, McConnell made it abundantly clear that his focus was on shaping the court for the next generation and beyond. “I saved the Supreme Court for a generation by blocking President Obama’s nominees and led the way for Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh,” he explained in late summer of 2019.

He has routinely tweeted about his accomplishments with regard to judicial appointments.