With just days to go until Donald Trump reveals his nominee for the Supreme Court of the United States, Senate Republicans are faced with an important choice — whether or not to support bringing the nomination to a vote.
In the immediate aftermath of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, Rep. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) signaled a reluctance to support a confirmation vote, giving Democrats hope that the GOP would fall short of the required voters — but she appears to already be reversing.
On Tuesday, Murkowski indicated that she wants to back peddle on her previous position, dashing Democrat hopes that moderate GOP senators would do the work for them.
“I know everybody wants to ask the question, ‘will you confirm the nominee?'” Murkowski said on Tuesday. “We don’t have a nominee yet. You and I don’t know who that is. And so I can’t confirm whether or not I can confirm a nominee when I don’t know who the nominee is.”
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), another so-called moderate Republican that many believed could oppose Trump’s nomination, confirmed earlier this week that he would support bringing the nomination to a vote. Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Pat Toomey (R-PA), and Cory Gardner (R-CO), all thought to be possible wild-cards as well, have fallen in line.
Only Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) has announced that she cannot approve a vote, but it appears that she may be on her own in this case.
The near-consensus among Senate Republicans paves the way for a quick confirmation of Trump’s nominee — though Democrats have threatened that they have “arrows” up their sleeves.
Trump is set to reveal his nominee for the vacant SCOTUS seat on Saturday, and America waits with bated breath.
