Kamala Harris: Dem Colleagues Ready to Play ‘Hardball’ to Save Constitution from Trump SCOTUS Pick

Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) said her colleagues in the Senate were ready to play “hardball” to delay President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee’s confirmation to replace Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy until after the 2018 midterms.

When asked what a Trump pick would look like, Harris said, “We are looking at a destruction of the Constitution of the United States based on all the folks he’s been appointing thus far for lifetime appointments. He’s been appointing ideologues. He’s been appointing people who have refused to agree Brown v Board of Education is settled law.he’s been appointing people not even qualified by bar associations. So this has got to be one—we all need to understand this to be one of the most serious fights we have yet to have had with this president. And we cannot relent.”

When asked if Democrats will play hardball, Harris said, “based on every conversation I have had with my colleagues this afternoon, everybody is prepared to play hardball.”

When asked if the process can be delayed until after the election, Harris added, “We have to fight to push it off. Listen, unlike Merrick Garland, where there were eight months left in that term, there are four months. We’re four months away from an election. One-third of the United States Senate is up for election. The decision that we make is going to have a generational impact. And the American people should be able to weigh in on who will be this in this position on the United States Supreme Court. Let’s remember. This is not like Gorsuch, where Gorsuch was about one conservative replacing another conservative. We fought on that one. I voted against him, but he’s there. He replaced Scalia. This is about a swing vote. This is a different seat, a different seat and everything lays in the balance in terms of how this court could swing on everything from choice, Roe versus Wade, to what we did in terms of same-sex marriage to so many issues that are about fundamental rights and about respecting the Constitution of the United States. So this is not like Gorsuch.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN