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The next president could have the power to dramatically reshape the Supreme Court with one or more appointments. But for Kamala Harris, that might not be possible.
If Republicans regain control of the Senate, a President Harris would have to rely on the next GOP leader to schedule a vote on a Supreme Court nominee.
And in interviews with CNN last week, the two leading candidates to replace Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell would not commit to putting a Harris Supreme Court nominee on the floor for a confirmation vote.
“It depends,” Texas Sen. John Cornyn said when asked if a Harris Supreme Court pick would get a vote in a Senate that he would lead. “Obviously, they would have to go through the committee process, and so it would depend on that. And then I think it would also depend on who the president nominates.”
Cornyn added: “If I’m in a position to make the decision, I’m not going to schedule a vote on some wild-eyed radical nominee, which I know she would love to nominate. But that would be my intention.”
Senate GOP Whip John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, had a similar refrain.
“We’ll cross the bridge when we come to it,” Thune said when asked last week if he’d allow a Harris Supreme Court pick to be confirmed. “But, you know, it probably depends on who it is and that’s the advantage of having a Republican Senate.”
The comments are the latest sign of how the Supreme Court confirmation process has devolved into an all-out partisan affair, a far cry from the days when presidents would routinely get their nominations confirmed even by a Senate controlled by the opposite party. While each side blames the other for the breakdown, McConnell’s 2016 decision to leave vacant the seat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia for more than a year — effectively robbing then-President Barack Obama of a Supreme Court seat — continues to reverberate in the Senate.
The next GOP leader will be decided in the lame-duck session of Congress after the November elections. So far, just Cornyn and Thune, along with Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, are running to replace McConnell. The current GOP senators, along with the incoming freshman class, will each get a vote. But while Thune and Cornyn are widely seen as the likeliest to succeed McConnell, such races are difficult to handicap because senators don’t have to publicize their votes, which are done by secret ballot.
Meanwhile, the GOP is heavily favored to win the Senate in November since the map is tilted in their favor, with Democrats having to defend seats in three red states, along with seven other competitive seats. They only have two pickup opportunities — Texas and Florida — and those are seen as long shots.
That means if Harris wins, she very well could be squaring off against a Republican Senate that could stymie her agenda or force her to cater to its demands.
And if Trump is president again, he may face his own limits, since both Thune and Cornyn have promised they wouldn’t gut the Senate filibuster on any issue, so it would still require 60 votes — meaning some Democratic votes — to advance most legislation.
Asked how he would work with a President Harris, Cornyn deadpanned: “We would be the loyal opposition.”
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