PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — Vice President Mike Pence told Breitbart News exclusively that he and President Donald Trump consider the U.S. Supreme Court one of, if not the most, important issue in the upcoming presidential election, saying there may be nothing that rises to the level of appointing justices to the highest court in the land.
Asked during an exclusive interview on Thursday that aired on Breitbart News Saturday on SiriusXM 125 the Patriot Channel about the possibility of several vacancies in the next presidential term, Pence said he and Trump know how important this is to many Americans.
“There may be no issue more important to the life of the nation than the destiny of the Supreme Court,” Pence said. “As we learned in the recent disappointing decision on the right to life, I hear conservatives around the country understand now more than ever that we need four more years of President Donald Trump in the White House. We’ve confirmed more than 200 judges to our federal courts, and that includes two justices to the Supreme Court, and I can tell you that each and every one of them are exactly the kind of conservative jurists that President Trump promised to appoint in the election of 2016.”
In recent weeks, retirement rumors have circulated regarding conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. Concerns about the health of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts have also been made public. Then questions about the health of liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, both in their 80s now, linger as well. Breyer is 81 now and will be 82 by election day. Ginsburg is 87 years old now and will be 88 early next year. That means the next president could appoint as many as five or perhaps even more justices to the Supreme Court in the next term, a level of impact on the country not seen in generations.
Pence reiterated President Trump’s promise to release a new list of potential justices from which he will pledge to nominate in September, just like he did in the 2016 presidential election.
“It’s one of the reasons why the president made the decision recently that we’re going to publish a new list in September of men and women that he’s prepared to nominate to the Supreme Court of the United States,” Pence said:
Presumptive Democrat presidential nominee former Vice President Joe Biden, meanwhile, has said in recent weeks he will not release a list of names from which he will pledge to nominate justices to the Supreme Court.
“One thing I hesitate to do is follow anything the president does at all because he usually does it all wrong,” Biden said at his first press conference in months a couple of weeks ago. “I have…we are putting together a list of a group of African American women who are qualified and have the experience to be on the Court. I am not going to release that until we go further down the line of vetting them, as well.”
Asked about Biden’s refusal to publicly release his list of justice candidates, Pence said he is not surprised Biden is not being transparent, but that Americans do not need a list of names from Biden to know he would appoint radical leftists to the Supreme Court.
“I’m not surprised that Joe Biden won’t release a list,” Pence said. “He doesn’t have to. Joe Biden is being driven, his candidacy is being driven, by the far left. And the American people know that any judge that Joe Biden would appoint would be one more activist judge legislating from the bench, trampling on our liberties, trampling on our values. In President Donald Trump, they know they’ll have a president who, just like he did before, will keep his word, will appoint principled conservatives to our Supreme Court and all our courts, and in a very real sense, will strengthen the foundation of the rule of law in the United States for generations to come.”
The full interview aired on Breitbart News Saturday on SiriusXM 125 the Patriot Channel on Saturday morning.
LISTEN TO VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE ON BREITBART NEWS SATURDAY:
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