Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stood his ground on Tuesday when pressed by the media about his decision to move forward on the new Supreme Court vacancy. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died last Friday at the age of 87 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
"Why not listen to [RBG's] dying wish apparently to allow the next president to make this decision?" a reporter asked him.
McConnell responded that he was more apt to follow another of Ginsburg's recent statements.
McConnell on RBG's dying wish for next president to pick her replacement: "I prefer another thing she said recently, which was she thought the number of the Supreme Court ought to be nine"
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 22, 2020
McConnell's blocking of Merrick Garland left SCOTUS with 8 justices for more than a year pic.twitter.com/MSmdJq5uXI
The media continued to press him about a poll that reportedly showed Americans don't want him to move forward on the nomination before the November election. But McConnell, who has a one-track mind at the moment, repeated that he has "an obligation to advance the nomination."
"The job right now is for this well-qualified nominee to be processed in committee, brought to the floor and voted on," he said.
He put an exclamation point at the end of that on Twitter:
Our Senate majority will do exactly the same thing in 2020 that we did in 2016: Follow Senate history, follow the clear precedent in each situation, and do exactly the job we were elected to do.
— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) September 22, 2020
We are going to vote on President Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court this year.