Mitt Romney gives GOP numbers to confirm Supreme Court nominee

Mitt Romney will vote to confirm a new Supreme Court judge, giving Republicans the numbers to secure nomination before the November election.

Senate Republicans have secured the numbers needed to confirm a new Supreme Court nominee before the US presidential election in a major win for the Trump administration and American conservatives.

Although the confirmation process will be rushed, Republicans believe they will be able to confirm a new conservative judge to the court before the November 3 election, giving the nation’s highest court a 6-3 conservative majority.

Republicans were all but guaranteed the 50 Senate votes required to confirm a new justice after Republican senator and Trump critic Mitt Romney said he would vote to confirm a new judge to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Senator Romney, who voted to convict the president on one impeachment charge early this year, said on Wednesday (AEST) he was willing to vote on Mr Trump’s nominee regardless of the proximity of the election.

Mitt Romney speaks to reporters outside the Senate Chamber. Picture: AFP.

“The Constitution gives the president the power to nominate and the Senate the authority to provide advice and consent on Supreme Court nominees,” he said. “Accordingly, I intend to follow the constitution and precedent in considering the president’s nominee. If the nominee reaches the Senate floor, I intend to vote based upon their qualifications.”

Senator Romney said the situation was different from 2016 – when Senate Republicans blocked Barack Obama’s nominee because of a looming election – because he said this time the president and the Senate were from the same party.

Senator Romney said America’s liberals had become too used to controlling the Supreme Court.

“My liberal friends have over many decades gotten very used to the idea of having a liberal court, but that’s not written in the stars,” he said. It was “appropriate for a nation that is … center-right to have a court which reflects center-right points of view.”

Two other Republican senators who were considered possible holdouts on a confirmation vote – Chuck Grassley and Cory Gardner – have also confirmed they will vote for a nominee.

Only two Republican senators, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, have said they will refuse to vote for a new justice before the election.

“We got the votes to confirm Justice Ginsburg’s replacement before the election,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said after Senator Romney’s statement. ‘We are going to move forward in the committee. We’re going to report the nomination of the committee to the floor of the United States Senate so we can vote before the election.”

Republican Senate leaders met on Wednesday to work out a timetable for the confirmation process with Mr Trump calling for it to be completed before the election.

“We have a lot of time,” Mr Trump said. “We have nothing but time, especially since we have the support, you know, we have senatorial support. People have come out, and I guess we have all the votes we’re going to need.”

Since 1975 it has taken an average of 69 days between formal nomination and Senate confirmation for new justices. There are just over 40 days until the election.

Democrats have strongly opposed the Republican push to confirm a new justice before the election, calling it hypocritical given the Republican decision to block Mr Obama’s nominee in 2016 on the grounds that it was in an election year.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer stood on the Senate floor and read out Republican quotes from 2016 to point out what he said were clear double-standards.

“That’s how they justified the unprecedented blockade of President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee. No vote during a presidential year because we have to let the people decide,” Senator Schumer said. “Now: ‘Whoops, didn’t mean it.’”

(Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia)