(22 Sep 2020) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4289265
Democrats are accusing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of blatant hypocrisy after he pledged a Senate vote on President Donald Trump's nominee to fill Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Supreme Court seat.
Four years ago, McConnell refused to consider President Barack Obama's Supreme Court pick in the months before the 2016 election.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer reminded McConnell of his 2016 comments that a vacancy should not be filled until the election of a new president.
"Leader McConnell is basically decided the rules don't apply to Republicans, even their own rules. It's just brute political force, he said.
Adding, "he has defiled the Senate like no one in recent history. Leader McConnel actions may now very well destroy the institution of the Senate."
But McConnell said Democrats were the hypocrites, citing a 1992 speech by then-Sen. Joe Biden indicating a vacancy occurring in an election year should not be filled. Biden is now the Democratic nominee for president.
The prospect that Trump and Senate Republicans will fill Ginsburg's Supreme Court seat before the year is out has ignited a call for major changes on the court, including expanding the number of justices.
Some Democratic senators, who had been averse to increasing the size of the nine-member court, said in the wake of Ginsburg's death that the Republican rush to fill the high court vacancy could be a breaking point.
"Everything is on the table," for Senate rules changes if Republicans quickly confirm a new justice, Chuck Schumer of New York warned.
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