Montana’s Senators are split over President Donald Trump’s Sept. 26 nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg with fewer than 40 days before the presidential election.
Democrat Jon Tester in a statement wrote, “Four years ago, McConnell and his allies made up a rule that the Senate can’t vote on a Supreme Court nominee eight months before an election, a rule they now intend to break by ramming one through just days before election day when hundreds of thousands of Montanans will have already voted. Regardless of the nominee, I believe there aren’t different sets of rules for Democrats and Republicans, and we must follow McConnell’s precedent: giving the American people a voice in this selection by filling the vacancy when the next President is sworn is, no matter who that is.”
Republican Steve Daines said, “Judge Barrett is a conservative, well qualified judge, who has faithfully honored and defended the Constitution. Judge Barrett will defend our Montana way of life from those that want to take away our 2nd Amendment rights and destroy our jobs. Nearly three years ago I voted to confirm Judge Barrett to the Seventh Circuit Court, and I now look forward to casting my vote to confirm Judge Barrett to the United States Supreme Court.”
Daines is being challenged in the Senate race by current Governor Steve Bullock, who said, “On Nov. 10, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether to dismantle protections for 152,000 Montanans with preexisting health conditions, gut our Medicaid expansion that covers nearly one in 10 Montanans, and risk critical drug benefits that our seniors rely on to lower the cost of prescription drugs. The stakes of this case are enormous for Montana’s access to healthcare, especially in the middle of a global pandemic.”
“The Senate should follow the precedent set by Senators Daines and McConnell in 2016 to wait until after the inauguration to fill Justice Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court. To rush through the confirmation process in violation of this precedent would only worsen our deep political divides while jeopardizing hundreds of thousands of Montanans’ access to healthcare,” Bullock said.
Republicans are eyeing a confirmation vote in late October, though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hasn’t yet said for certain whether a final vote will come before or after the Nov. 3 election.
A confirmation vote so close to a presidential election would be unprecedented.
