CO-SEN: Gardner sidesteps question about whether he'd support replacing Ginsburg quickly
Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner on Saturday wouldn't say whether he stood by a position he took four years ago when he argued that the president elected in November should fill a Supreme Court vacancy after a justice died 10 months before the election.
The death Friday of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — 46 days before the Nov. 3 election — thrust Gardner and a handful of other potential GOP swing votes into the spotlight as President Donald Trump and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell moves swiftly to replace the 87-year-old liberal icon. That's despite McConnell and other Republicans arguing in 2016 that the voters should weigh in on a Supreme Court vacancy during an election year.
In an appearance at Western Slope advocacy group Club 20's annual fall conference in Grand Junction, Gardner, who is seeking a second term, avoided directly answering a question about replacing Ginsburg during a candidate question-and-answer session.
Moderator Edie Sohn read back a March 2016 Gardner statement explaining why he agreed with McConnell's decision to block then-President Barack Obama from naming Merrick Garland as a replacement for Justice Antonin Scalia, who had died a month earlier.
Said Sohn, quoting Gardner: “'Our next election is too soon and the stakes are too high; the American people deserve a role in this process as the next Supreme Court Justice will influence the direction of this country for years to come. That is why the next president of the United States should have the opportunity to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court.'
https://www.coloradopolitics.com/2020-election/gardner-sidesteps-question-about-whether-hed-support-replacing-ginsburg-quickly/article_a95cc220-fabc-11ea-8a36-0fd750ba52e3.html
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