Portman supports Senate vote on Trump’s Supreme Court nominee

“I look forward to seeing who President Trump plans to nominate and thoroughly assessing his or her qualifications for this important role,” Portman said in the statement.

This is a departure from what Portman said in 2016 when Justice Antonin Scalia died and left his seat vacant. He tweeted in 2016 that “Americans should have a voice in who will be next Supreme Court nominee.”

Text of the complete statement:

"In the more than two dozen vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court during a presidential election year in our nation’s history, the sitting president made a nomination in every single case. Leader McConnell has said that he will hold a vote on any nominee President Trump sends to the Senate, and I intend to fulfill my role as a U.S. Senator and judge that nominee based on his or her merits. The president was elected in 2016, in part, based on a commitment to nominate men and women to the judiciary who would fairly and impartially apply the law and protect the rights guaranteed by the Constitution, not advance public policy goals by legislating from the bench. Likewise, in both 2016 and 2018, the American people have re-elected a Republican Senate majority to help President Trump fulfill that commitment.

“In 2016, when the vacancy occurred following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, I said ‘the president has every right to nominate a Supreme Court justice … But the founders also gave the Senate the exclusive right to decide whether to move forward on that nominee.’ Since the 1880s, no Senate has confirmed an opposing-party president’s Supreme Court nominee in a presidential election year. In contrast, when the presidency and the Senate are controlled by the same party, the precedent is for the president’s nominees to get confirmed. In the 19 occasions that a vacancy has occurred when the President and the Senate are of the same party, the Senate has confirmed the nominee and filled the seat in every instance but one. I look forward to seeing who President Trump plans to nominate and thoroughly assessing his or her qualifications for this important role.”

Credit: Renee Bouchard

Credit: Renee Bouchard

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, in a statement issued Friday following the death of Ginsburg, called for the people having “a voice in the momentous decision.”

“Justice Ginsburg shattered glass ceilings for women who haven’t yet been born, and brought our country closer to living up to our founding ideals. Her intellect and passion and commitment to justice were simply unmatched. I pray that the same force of principles to which she held herself will help guide the leaders of this country. The American people deserve a voice in the momentous decision we now face, and it was her dying wish, according to her family, that we wait for their choice to lead us to take office in January to confirm a new justice. We honor Justice Ginsburg best by fighting as hard as we can to preserve her legacy and ensure that women are in all places where decisions are being made.”