Thread by @BoldProgressive

THREAD: Current Republican senators saying, as a matter of principle in their minds, there should be no Supreme Court vacancy filled during an election year.

As @LindseyGrahamSC says, this applies even for a Republican president... #HonorRBG #RBGRIP

https://twitter.com/vanitaguptacr/status/1307153104941518848?s=11

THREAD: Sen. @MarcoRubio (R-FL) in 2016: “I don’t think we should be moving on a nominee in the last year of this president’s term — I would say that if it was a Republican president .” #HonorRBG

THREAD: Sen. @TedCruz (R-TX), 2016: "It has been 80 years since a Supreme Court vacancy was nominated and confirmed in an election year. There is a long tradition that you don't do this in an election year." #HonorRBG

THREAD: Sen. @ChuckGrassley (R-IA), 2016: “A lifetime appointment that could dramatically impact individual freedoms and change the direction of the court for at least a generation is too important to get bogged down in politics. The American people shouldn’t be denied a voice.”

THREAD: @SenThomTillis (R-NC), 2016: “It is essential...to the very health of our republic to not launch our nation into a partisan, divisive confirmation battle during the very same time the American people are casting their ballots to elect our next president.”

THREAD: @SenCoryGardner (R-CO), 2016: “I think we’re too close to the election. The president who is elected in November should be the one who makes this decision.” #HonorRBG

2016, @SenBurr (R-NC): “In this election year, the American people will have an opportunity to have their say in the future direction of our country. For this reason, I believe the vacancy left open by Justice Antonin Scalia should not be filled until there is a new president.”

THREAD: Sen. @RoyBlunt (R-MO), 2016: “The Senate should not confirm a new Supreme Court justice until we have a new president.” #HonorRBG

THREAD: @SenRonJohnson (R-WI), 2016: “I strongly agree that the American people should decide the future direction of the Supreme Court by their votes for president and the majority party in the U.S. Senate.” #HonorRBG

THREAD: @SenRobPortman (R-OH), 2016: “I believe the best thing for the country is to trust the American people to weigh in on who should make a lifetime appointment that could reshape the Supreme Court for generations. This wouldn’t be unusual..." continued...

.@SenRobPortman: “It is common practice for the Senate to stop acting on lifetime appointments during the last year of a presidential term, and it’s been nearly 80 years since any president was permitted to immediately fill a vacancy that arose in a presidential election year.”

THREAD: @SenDavidPerdue (R-GA) in 2016: “As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I will do everything in my power to encourage the president and Senate leadership not to start this process until we hear from the American people.”

THREAD: Sen .@LindseyGrahamSC (R-SC) AGAIN in 2018: “If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump’s term, and the primary process has started, we’ll wait to the next election.” #HonorRBG

THREAD: And, of course, @SenateMajLdf Mitch McConnell (R-KY), 2016:

https://twitter.com/danpfeiffer/status/1307103075493130240

JOIN THOUSANDS on this emergency petition to Senators: No confirmation until inauguration. If Republicans don't #HonorRBG, Dems must #ExpandTheCourt to do justice. act.boldprogressives.org/survey/petitio…