Ohio Senator Rob Portman Backs Vote on Donald Trump’s SCOTUS Nominee

Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) announced Saturday he is in favor of Republican efforts to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with President Donald Trump’s nominee.

“The statement comes despite Portman supporting a delay in voting on President Barack Obama’s appointment to fill a vacancy nearly a year before a new president would take office,” according to the Columbus Dispatch.

Portman’s statement continued:

In the more than two dozen vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court during a presidential election year in our nation’s history, the sitting president made a nomination in every single case. Leader McConnell has said that he will hold a vote on any nominee President Trump sends to the Senate, and I intend to fulfill my role as a U.S. Senator and judge that nominee based on his or her merits.

The president was elected in 2016, in part, based on a commitment to nominate men and women to the judiciary who would fairly and impartially apply the law and protect the rights guaranteed by the Constitution, not advance public policy goals by legislating from the bench.  Likewise, in both 2016 and 2018, the American people have re-elected a Republican Senate majority to help President Trump fulfill that commitment.

“I look forward to seeing who President Trump plans to nominate and thoroughly assessing his or her qualifications for this important role,” he concluded.

At the White House Saturday, Trump said he would likely announce the nomination next week, according to Breitbart News.

“I could see most likely it would be a woman,” he added. “Yeah… I would say that a woman would be in first place, the choice of a woman would certainly be appropriate.”

In a string of tweets, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) wrote Saturday that he supported the president “in any effort to move forward” regarding the vacancy left by Ginsburg who passed away Friday evening.

“Graham’s statement appears to put to rest Republican fears that he might favor leaving Ginsburg’s seat vacant until after the November election,” Breitbart News reported.