Bring it.
Via IJR:
Coming off the heels of multiple high-court rulings in Republicans’ favor, some Democrats appeared to be ready to play hardball regarding the Senate’s responsibility to confirm the presidential Supreme Court nominees, while others said they will wait and see if Trump will pick a bipartisan replacement for Kennedy.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), however, told reporters Wednesday that Trump needs to “put somebody forward that has very broad bipartisan support” or Republicans are “gonna have a heck of a fight on their hands.”
Many Democrats are still heated over Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Republicans blocking former President Barack Obama’s 2016 Supreme Court pick, Merrick Garland, for over eight months ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
“Merrick Garland is probably still available,” Sen. Thomas Carper (D-Del.) joked when asked about Kennedy’s potential replacement. “I’m still hung up on how shameful he was treated — held up for almost a year — I won’t get over that soon.”
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) also called on the president to pick “someone who can garner broad support in the United States Senate […] a person in the mainstream and in the tradition of Justice Kennedy.”
Cardin is doubtful that Trump will select such a nominee and predicts a showdown in the Senate.
“President Trump has never shown a willingness to follow the right course, so there’s no reason to be hopeful about that,” he said.
However, other Democrats were more hesitant to play hardball with Republicans regarding the upcoming Supreme Court pick, unlike McConnell and the GOP back in 2016. The majority leader has been gloating all over Twitter this week about blocking Garland.
Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), who’s currently running to bounce Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) from the Senate, told IJR that he “wouldn’t do anything pre-emptively.”