Judiciary Dems urge Graham to delay Supreme Court nominee until next year 

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are urging Republican chair Lindsey Graham (S.C.) not to bring a vote on a Supreme Court nominee until next year. 

Their plea comes the day after the Supreme Court announced liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died of complications with pancreatic cancer Friday evening. She was 87. Her death instantly sparked a partisan battle over the fate of the new vacancy on the conservative-majority court. 

In a letter to Graham, Democratic lawmakers on the committee pointed to a precedent set after the 2016 election-year death of the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia when Graham called for delaying a nomination until after the election. 

“In light of the vacancy created by Justice Ginsburg’s death, we call upon you to state unequivocally and publicly that you will not consider any nominee to fill Justice Ginsburg’s seat until after the next President is inaugurated,” the Democratic senators wrote. “There cannot be one set of rules for a Republican President and one set for a Democratic President, and considering a nominee before the next inauguration would be wholly inappropriate.”

The Democratic members of the committee quoted Graham’s statements in 2016 and 2018 that have resurfaced since Ginsburg’s death, where he directly said that the Senate would not fill a Supreme Court vacancy in 2020. 

Graham indicated Saturday that he would reverse course and back President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in their effort to fill the vacancy this year. 

“We urge you to adhere to your own words and commit publicly that you will not consider a nominee to fill Justice Ginsburg’s seat until after the next president is inaugurated,” the Democratic senators wrote.