Sen. Cory Gardner Friday rejected arguments that voting to fill late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat before Election Day could hurt his reelection chances.
"Only Democrats seem to think in the far left that filling a constitutional role is an illegitimate function of the United States Senate," the Colorado Republican said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "Any time you place a justice on the Supreme Court who is going to uphold the law and follow the Constitution, that is a good thing for the country. That's what we need and that's why I hope that the nominee is put forward is somebody who meets the criteria of upholding the law and won't legislate from the bench."
Gardner said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell didn't check with him first before making it clear President Donald Trump would be able to make a nomination to fill Ginsburg's seat.
"In fact, I just made a determination that under my constitutional obligation to advise and consent, this country needs to move forward," said Gardner.
He added that he expects the Democrats to fight back as hard as they did against Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
"This isn't just about this Supreme Court vacancy," said Gardner. "Look what they did, starting with decades ago with Judge (Robert) Bork. Look what they did to (Justice Samuel) Alito. Look what they did to Brett Kavanaugh. Alito's wife, they brought her to tears in a committee hearing, and now what we're going to see this amplified to a degree that we have never seen before. I pray for this country because I'm worried about the left will do to tear this apart."
With Kavanaugh, "they brought out high school yearbooks," he added. "They will probably bring up third grade check the box notes sent around for any nominee that comes Saturday."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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