MARYVILLE, Tenn. — United States Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) released a statement on Sunday saying he is in favor of moving forward with filling the US Supreme Court vacancy after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death.
He wrote:
“No one should be surprised that a Republican Senate majority would vote on a Republican President’s Supreme Court nomination, even during a presidential election year. The Constitution gives senators the power to do it. The voters who elected them expect it. Going back to George Washington, the Senate has confirmed many nominees to the Supreme Court during a presidential election year. It has refused to confirm several when the President and Senate majority were of different parties. Senator McConnell is only doing what Democrat leaders have said they would do if the shoe were on the other foot.”
“I have voted to confirm Justices Roberts, Alito, Sotomayor, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh based upon their intelligence, character and temperament. I will apply the same standard when I consider President Trump’s nomination to replace Justice Ginsburg.”
Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that the full Senate would vote on President Donald Trump's Supreme Court Justice nomination on Friday shortly after news of Ginsburg's passing broke.
Trump said the candidate will "most likely" be a woman on Saturday.