McConnell Warns Against ‘Radical’ Supreme Court Pick
The New York Times
Lawmakers from both parties and interest groups swung into gear to influence President Biden’s choice for the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s highest court.
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers from both parties and both houses of Congress on Thursday rushed to influence President Biden’s choice for the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, with Republicans warning against a “radical” pick and a senior Democrat pushing what he called a consensus choice.
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader who engineered a blockade of the last nominee from a Democratic president, Merrick B. Garland, issued a warning to Mr. Biden against making an overly ideological choice to succeed Justice Stephen G. Breyer, who formally announced his retirement on Thursday.
“The American people elected a Senate that is evenly split at 50-50,” Mr. McConnell said in his first statement since word of the retirement leaked. “To the degree that President Biden received a mandate, it was to govern from the middle, steward our institutions and unite America. The president must not outsource this important decision to the radical left. The American people deserve a nominee with demonstrated reverence for the written text of our laws and our Constitution.”
