A leading Republican senator, John Cornyn, is vowing to block a Kamala Harris presidency from placing a left wing “radical” on the Supreme Court.
Cornyn is one of two candidates most likely to take over from Mitch McConnell as expected Senate majority leader.
Republicans are predicted to come back from the November elections with a firm majority and the new Senate majority leader, who would be elected in the weeks after the presidential election, could have a major influence on the Supreme Court confirmation process.
“I’m not going to schedule a vote on some wild-eyed radical nominee, which I know she would love to nominate,” the Texas senator told CNN, according to a report.
Newsweek sought email comment from the Harris campaign on Tuesday.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at Carnegie Mellon University on September 25, 2024 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A leading Senate Republican has vowed to stop a Harris presidency from placing a “radical” left wing judge on the Supreme Court.
Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
Senate Republican whip John Thune, the other favorite to replace McConnell, said that a Republican majority in the Senate would be useful in blocking Harris’ candidate if necessary.
“We’ll cross the bridge when we come to it,” Thune said. “But, you know, it probably depends on who it is and that’s the advantage of having a Republican Senate.”
The Supreme Court is currently made up of six Republican nominees and three Democratic. Three of the Republican-nominated judges were proposed by President Donald Trump.
Harris has vowed to redress the Supreme Court balance, with restoring abortion rights a key priority.
There has been lasting partisan rancor after McConnell refused to hold a confirmation hearing for President Barack Obama‘s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland after the death of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia in 2016.
That allowed Trump to nominate his own candidate, Neil Gorsuch, when elected president.
In all, Trump nominated three justices—Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Gorsuch—to the Supreme Court, giving it its 6-3 conservative majority.
That has proved useful in his own criminal cases and, if reelected president, Trump will be seeking judges who will protect him from criminal prosecution.
On July 1, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3, along partisan lines, to grant Trump broad immunity from prosecution.
Prosecutors in his election fraud case in Washington, D.C., have been trying to grapple with the decision ever since and got a new indictment sworn in before a grand jury to reflect the new legal reality.
Trump is accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights in connection with an alleged pressure campaign against former Vice President Mike Pence and state officials to reverse the 2020 election results.
Trump has denied all charges against him and repeatedly said he is the victim of a political witch hunt. He has accused special counsel Jack Smith of attempting to interfere in the 2024 presidential election by prosecuting him.
The new indictment removes all accusations leveled against Trump regarding attempts to pressure the Department of Justice to falsely declare that President Joe Biden‘s 2020 election win was the result of massive fraud, after the Supreme Court ruled that was official conduct.
