Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) stressed the importance of sending “constitutionalists” to the Supreme Court.
During an appearance on Fox News, Blackburn weighed in on Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement and President Joe Biden’s upcoming nomination.
“What we know is that this is going to be one of those fights that we will have as to how the Senate goes about providing advice and consent, which is our responsibility, our constitutional duty. And I agree with you. It would be nice if we would see this approached as a respectful process, respectful to the institution of the Senate, and respectful to the Constitution of the United States,” Blackburn said.
She added, “And make certain that we do the vetting that is necessary, that we spend the time reviewing rulings, and writings, and opinions and listening to speeches.”
Blackburn went on to explain, “Our duty is to make certain we have constitutionalists that go to the bench, people that are going to be fair, that are going to uphold that Constitution and rule of law, and to be certain that we do not put people on the Supreme Court or the federal bench who are going to be activist judges and are going to make rulings the way they would like to see things be, rather than making rulings based on the rule of law.”
The senator shared what she believes has been an issue with the Biden administration “when it comes to putting judges on the federal bench for district courts or appellate court.”
Watch Blackburn’s comments below:
“They are sending us people who are to the left. They are radical. They have radical writings or opinions. They are outside of the mainstream. Some of them have been very active on social media and have been anti-conservative,” Blackburn said.
Commenting on Breyer’s retirement, Blackburn continued, “It appears that he was being pushed out the White House for political gain, revealed that he was looking to retire. They did not wait for him to make the announcement. They made that announcement on their time and in their manner to go ahead and push him out, so they could have a better day in the news cycle, which has not been good for them this year.”
While delivering remarks from the White House last week, the president vowed to nominate a Black woman to replace Breyer, as IJR reported.
According to an ABC News/Ipsos poll, 76% of Americans believe he should consider “all possible nominees” while 23% want him to stand by his promise to nominate a Black woman.