Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s previous remarks about President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland have resurfaced in the wake of her death.
Following the death of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Ginsburg was interviewed by The New York Times where she weighed in on the possibility of another nominee filling the newly vacated seat.
During that interview in 2016, she noted that there was nothing in the Constitution to prohibit presidential power in the president’s last year.
“There’s nothing in the Constitution that says the president stops being the president in his last year,” Ginsburg said.
“That’s their job,” she said when asked if the Senate had a responsibility to look into Garland’s qualifications.
She also offered her take on then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as she expressed concern about the possibility of a Trump presidency.
“I can’t imagine what this place would be — I can’t imagine what the country would be — with Donald Trump as our president,” she said. “For the country, it could be four years. For the court, it could be — I don’t even want to contemplate that.”
Although Democratic lawmakers have balked at the idea of Republicans filling Ginsburg’s seat in such a short period of time, some are now referencing the late justice’s remarks.
But, as Ginsburg’s remarks have resurfaced, so have remarks from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
Their remarks, which are based solely on the action of voting on a nominated justice, have been used to highlight the hypocrisy in their current stance.
At the time, all three Republican lawmakers refused to hold a vote for the former president’s Supreme Court nominee with him having more than 10 months left in his presidency.
But, despite there being less than 45 days until the upcoming 2020 election, Republican lawmakers are now backing and justifying their move to push appointing a Trump Supreme Court nominee before the November election.