Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called on voters Sunday to contact senators and urge them to honor the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's wish that she not be replaced until a new president is installed.
Details: Schumer noted during their news conference "we only need two more senators who will abide by RGB's wish," after Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins said they'd oppose holding a Senate confirmation vote on President Trump's nomination to replace the late Supreme Court justice before November's election.
What else they're saying: Ocasio-Cortez wouldn't rule out when asked a push to impeach President Trump or Attorney General Bill Barr, whom she accused of "potentially law-breaking behavior" and being "unfit for office," but stressed this would be a matter for the House Democratic leadership.
- "We need to make sure we mobilize on an unprecedented scale to ensure this vacancy is reserved for the next president," she said. "We must also commit to using every procedural tool available to us to ensure that we buy ourselves the time necessary."
- Schumer said they wanted to "protect the rights of women — their rights to their body, to choose, their rights to health care and equality," which he said "would go down the drain" if Trump were successful in his plans.
Of note: Schumer said Friday "nothing is off the table next year" if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his Republican allies move to fill Ginsburg's Supreme Court seat in the coming weeks.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told ABC earlier Sunday that Democrats have "arrows in our quiver" they could use to block Trump's nomination, declining to elaborate further.
The other side: Trump said he'll announce a nominee for the Supreme Court bench "next week."
- Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, told CNN Sunday "the decision of when to nominate" another justice "does not lie with" Ginsburg.
- Barr dismissed last Wednesday accusations of political interference, saying "prosecutorial power is invested in the attorney general."
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