Portman says 2020 is a new situation, he’ll vote on Trump nominee to replace RBG

Calling Ruth Bader Ginsburg a “giant in her profession,” U.S. Sen. Rob Portman said he would vote on President Trump’s nominee to fill her seat on the U.S. Supreme Court — even though in 2016, Portman argued against filling a seat left vacant by Antonin Scalia in an election year.

In a press call Tuesday, Portman echoed an argument being made by other Republican senators: “The precedent here is very, very clear. The precedent couldn’t be clearer. When you have a president and a Senate of the same party, the person gets confirmed ... The same is true the other way. In contrast, when there is an election year and you have divided government, so the president and the Senate are of different parties, there has not been a single confirmation since the 1880s."

On Feb. 25, 2016, Portman said on Twitter that rather than fill the seat left vacant by Scalia’s sudden death, the U.S. Senate should wait until American voters had a say in the November 2016 presidential election.

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper said in a fundraising email: “After helping (Senate Majority Leader) Mitch McConnell block President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee under the guise of it being an election year, Portman has decided to reverse course and help McConnell shove through Trump’s nominee while voters have already started voting. It doesn’t get more hypocritical than that, folks.”

Ginsburg died Sept. 18 — 46 days before the Nov. 3 election. The only vacancy to come closer in an election year was in 1864, when U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney died 27 days before the election. Republican Abraham Lincoln delayed the nomination of Ohioan Salmon P. Chase to the high court until after the election.

Gov. Mike DeWine, who spent 12 years on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said his policy was to withhold judgment until he could examine the nominee. He added that if he were still on the committee, he would conduct due diligence and then vote on the nominee.

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