Cory Gardner Already Under Pressure In Next Supreme Court Nominee Fight

Gardner faces a tough reelection race against Democrat John Hickenlooper. The former governor’s tweet on Friday pressed Gardner to “uphold the commitment he set more than four years ago and allow the president elected in November to make this decision.”

While Gardner has been facing pressure to keep his previous position, Colorado’s other senator, Democrat Michael Bennet, has shifted his. A Bennet spokesperson said the senator thinks the chamber should not confirm a new justice before the election or during a lame-duck session (the months between the election and inauguration). In 2016, Bennet urged Republicans to do their job and consider Merrick Garland.

The difference for Democrats this time around is that McConnell’s insistence in 2016 instituted a new rule.

Bennet, however, did tell volunteers over the weekend that if McConnell feels like he can do this, he will.

“No amount of persuasion or embarrassment or humiliation will change what he’s doing,” he said. “It is a raw exercise in power.”

This back and forth about who said what when will go on for weeks. Sandberg said you can call it whatever you like, but he’s in agreement with Bennet that it all boils down to power.

“The Constitution gives the right to the Senate to either confirm or not confirm or not even hold hearings on a Supreme Court nominee,” he said.

McConnell and Republicans held that power then and they hold it today. They control the Senate 53-47 and there’s no longer a filibuster for supreme court nominees. In fact, there is little Democrats can do to stop the process. The only thing that can stop the process is if Republicans say no. Only Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine have taken that stand. The rest potentially stand behind McConnell and Trump.

Democratic Rep. Jason Crow said he called Gardner this weekend to urge him to wait until a president is sworn in next year.

“If that’s President Biden then fine, if it’s President Trump then we’ll deal with that, too. But these are the rules the senate put in place.”

And Trump is also putting on the pressure. On Fox & Friends Monday morning, Trump criticized Collins and Murkowski for their stand. He also said this vacancy fight will boost Gardner’s chances.

“I think it's going to help Cory Gardner,” he said. “He's a great guy by the way and very, very loyal to the party and loyal to his state.”

In the end, even if it does cost Gardner and other GOP senators in tight races their seats, the fight may be an opportunity too good for Republicans to pass up, said University of Denver politics professor Joshua WIlson.

“That just puts such a conservative majority on to the court that they should have control of the court, for lack of a better term, for quite a few years to come.”

Wilson said the federal judiciary is the GOP’s place “to build a lasting, insulated fortress to defend their interests.”

Some Republicans think it may also energize their voters in the final stretch of the election. Wilson points out there is a flip side — it could also energize Democrats and undecided voters, especially as the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the Affordable Care Act and other important issues this fall. It’s an easy way to show the importance of the court in terms that matter.

“You can put it in terms of health care, put it in terms of women’s rights, put it in terms on minority rights, put it in terms of abortion rights. And so, it could be a way to gain leverage to get those voters out,” he explained.

And that leads to the other big question — timing. Can the Senate do this quickly?

Trump is not expected to announce a nominee until the end of the week. And the Senate was expected to be back in their states for the final stretch of the campaign.

“You start thinking of all those other demands in an election year just weeks away from an election,” Wilson said. “It’s still a tall order, but it’s a major priority for the party.”

Republicans point out that it took just 42 days from Ginsburg’s nomination to her confirmation. For Justice John Paul Stevens it was only 19 days. But those were very different times.

The confirmation process has become a spectacle. On average it now takes 69 days between nomination and confirmation, the Congressional Research Service found. And that could mean confirming after the election— where voters could sweep control of the presidency, the Senate or both out of Republican hands.