Senate Republican leaders are making plans for how they would handle a sudden Supreme Court vacancy, with an eye on losing their majority in the midterms, according to Politico.
A Democratic triumph would carry "massive implications for the rest of Donald Trump's presidency," including the prospect that the Senate could essentially "shut down confirmations" of his favored nominees, according to the report which described it as a "nightmare scenario" for Republicans, "who have viewed their reshaping of the federal judiciary as a crown jewel of Trump’s legacy."
The two oldest justices, 78-year-old Clarence Thomas and 76-year-old Samuel Alito, are both Republican appointees. Key GOP senators told Politico they would support filling a seat this year if one opens up. "We would proceed quickly with such a vacancy," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
Signs of an imminent vacancy are scarce. Alito told Bloomberg in an interview published Tuesday, "I intend to stick around through this term," adding, "I made that decision many months ago." The term ends early next summer. Thomas hasn't publicly addressed his retirement plans in years, Politico noted.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), a frequent Trump critic who could "single-handedly bottle up a nominee" in the Judiciary Committee, said he would "absolutely" support filling an end-of-year vacancy.
"You've got to use your majority position to take that vote," he told reporters before adding he "doubted" a seat would open and saying, "I can't think of anything other than health" that would cause a justice to quickly step down. Thune said that if a justice planned to retire, "They would have done it already."
Embattled Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the only Republican up this year in a state Kamala Harris won, left the door open to a post-election confirmation, citing her longstanding position "that as long as it's not close to a presidential election that we should proceed to consider nominees."
Democrats remain bitter over the GOP blockade of Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama's final nominee, and could block a fourth Trump justice. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said over the summer that part of his pitch to recruit candidates was "two words that make a huge difference: Supreme Court." Last week he told reporters: "One of the reasons we need to make sure that we do everything we can to take back the Senate is [to] not let Trump put such horrible justices, MAGA justices, on the Supreme Court and the lower courts."
A vacancy would give Republicans just five scheduled session weeks to find 50 votes, Politico reported.