Blumenthal: McConnell Cannot Abdicate Senate’s ‘Responsibility’ to Fill Vacancy

JANSING: “...joins me now. Good morning, senator.”
BLUMENTHAL: “Good morning, Chris.”
JANSING: “So, senator, the president says he will nominate someone, Republicans starting with Mitch McConnell and Ted Cruz say that’s not happening. So what happens now?”
BLUMENTHAL: “What happens now is that the president will nominate someone and I believe that it will be someone with clear intellect and integrity and — let me just say as a former federal prosecutor, U.S. attorney here in Connecticut and state attorney general who has argued cases before the United States Supreme Court, including before Justice Scalia, I have deep respect for the court and I hope that this nation can avoid it becoming a political football dragged into the morass of presidential partisan politics. And we all have a common goal in making sure the credibility and respect for the court is preserved because that is one of its main assets, in fact, it’s preeminent asset in our democracy. And so, I really believe now going forward there is a constitutional responsibility for the Judiciary Committee and for the United States Senate that cannot be abdicated and rejected as the majority leader Mitch McConnell is threatening to do.”
JANSING: “Well, obviously he sees it differently. People like Ted Cruz see it differently. What can Harry Reid and the senior member on the Democratic side of your committee, Pat Leahy, are you strategizing? What are you going to do going forward to try to see this actually makes it to the Judiciary Committee?”
BLUMENTHAL: “What all of us can do in combination on the Judiciary Committee, all of us who have experience in the federal courts and our state judiciary is to press repeatedly, vociferously, vigorously with the kind of energy and passion that I believe will unite the country. Because, by and large people understand that those cases involving voting rights, labor rights, women’s healthcare rights, reproductive rights as well as affirmative action and immigration policy are cases with real consequences for people’s lives. They affect every day lives in America, and the lack of certainty itself, from what I hear in the business world as well as the labor world will affect our economy and job creation. So, there are wide ranging effects that I think we can articulate with the passion and energy that it really deserves.”