Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell mourned the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday. The GOP leader also vowed to give President Trump's Supreme Court nominee a vote in the U.S. Senate.
"Americans reelected our majority in 2016 and expanded it in 2018 because we pledged to work with President Trump and support his agenda, particularly his outstanding appointments to the federal judiciary," McConnell wrote in a statement. "Once again, we will keep our promise."
"President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate," the Senate majority leader vowed.
After hearing the news himself, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer rushed out and demanded that President Trump hold off until after the election before nominating Ginsburg's replacement.
The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) September 18, 2020
The party out of power always wants the party in power not to do anything in the hopes of retaking control after the election. But voters gave the GOP a decisive majority in the Senate and control over the White House.
Within an hour of the news, CSPAN tweeted a video of a much younger Joe Biden asking then-President George Bush in 1992 not to name a nominee to the Supreme Court until after the election. But at the time, Republicans only controlled the White House and Democrats controlled the Senate.
McConnell notes that voters gave Republicans control over the Senate in 2016 to check and balance the last days of Barack Obama's lame-duck presidency.
Sen. Joe Biden in 1992 says President Bush should "not name a nominee until after the November election..." #SCOTUS pic.twitter.com/8I2eezMaP9
— CSPAN (@cspan) September 19, 2020
Ginsburg passed away on Friday after losing her battle to metastatic pancreatic cancer. She was 87.