Senate Democrats are warning that if they win control of the chamber this November, any Supreme Court vacancy President Donald Trump tries to fill could meet the same fate Republicans once handed Barack Obama's nominee: a seat left open and a nominee left waiting.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) put the president on notice in response to a question from NBC News, saying a major reason Democrats want the majority is to stop Trump from stocking the courts with ideological allies.
"The bottom line is: One of the reasons we want to do everything we can to take back the Senate is not to let Trump put such horrible justices — MAGA justices — on the Supreme Court and the lower courts," Schumer said.
The pledge lands days after Justice Samuel Alito acknowledged in a CBS News interview that he considered retiring this year and will weigh it again in 2027, raising the prospect of a fourth Trump appointment. Democrats would need to pick up four seats to flip the Senate, a majority that would let them decide which judicial nominees get a hearing at all.
Several Democrats pointed directly to Republicans' 2016 decision to sit on Obama's pick, Merrick Garland, for most of a year. Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego was blunt about what the party should do in response.
"No, we've got to do exactly what McConnell did to us," Gallego said.
Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono, a Judiciary Committee member, laughed when asked whether Democrats would consider a Trump nominee and pivoted to talk of court reform, floating a limit of two nominations per president. Josh Orton, president of the progressive group Demand Justice, said his organization will fight any Trump nominee whenever a vacancy opens, arguing Trump wants judges loyal to him personally.
Republicans are already using the warning as a midterm motivator. Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) warned on X that a GOP-controlled Senate is needed to confirm any Alito successor, claiming Democrats wouldn't even hold a vote. Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, also on the Judiciary Committee, agreed, saying a Trump pick shouldn't expect to get through a Democratic-led Senate.
Meanwhile, Maine Democratic Senate nominee Troy Jackson is already turning the vacancy question on Sen. Susan Collins, pointing to her votes for justices who later helped overturn Roe v. Wade. Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority, though recent polling shows Democrats within striking distance of flipping it.