CHARLESTON, W.Va. — U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said his vote next week against President Donald Trump’s latest U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, will be a vote against the process of seating a new justice before Election Day.
“My vote is the process and I am not going to be part of setting a precedent. We’re going to rue the day that we did this,” Senator Manchin said, concerning his coming “no” vote, during an appearance on Friday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
As of Friday morning, the tentative schedule U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had set for Judge Barrett’s confirmation would bring a vote by Monday night.
“They’re going to do it. It’s not going to be stopped,” Manchin said.
“This is setting a precedent that’s never been set in 240 years,” he said.
It is an argument he has been making for weeks.
“They can twist the history all they want to, they cannot, basically, debunk this situation that we have never, ever confirmed a Supreme Court justice when a vacancy came about between July and Election Day.”
On Thursday, members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Barrett’s nomination with a 12-0 vote during a boycott from Democrats.
Neither Senator Manchin nor U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) sit on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
Both previously met with Judge Barrett.
It was Sept. 26, 2020 when President Trump introduced Judge Barrett as his choice to replace late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg during a ceremony at the White House.
If the schedule holds, the U.S. Senate vote will be on Oct. 26, 2020.