TN US Senators Blackburn, Alexander weigh in on filling Supreme Court vacancy following death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Tennessee US Senator Marsha Blackburn is issuing her thoughts on what President Donald Trump and the US Senate should do as a seat on the Supreme Court has opened following the death Friday of women’s rights icon and longtime justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

During an appearance Sunday night on Fox News’s The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton, Blackburn in part said, “It is President Trump’s duty to fill this (vacant) spot.”

The issue of whether the Trump administration should fill that vacancy in an election year has caused Republicans and Democrats to spar over the matter. Democrats are largely calling for waiting to fill the open seat until after the election, citing what they say is hypocrisy when Senate Republicans refused to confirm President Obama’s nomination in 2016 and insisted on waiting to confirm a nomination until after the 2016 election.

Many Republicans, including Blackburn, support filling the vacancy. Blackburn also told Hilton last night, “29 times Presidents and the Senate of the same party have moved forward and have done the nomination in an election year.”

Tennessee US Senator Lamar Alexander is echoing similar sentiments to her Republican counterpart on the issue. Below is a full statement issued from Alexander on the Supreme Court vacancy:

“No one should be surprised that a Republican Senate majority would vote on a Republican President’s Supreme Court nomination, even during a presidential election year. The Constitution gives senators the power to do it. The voters who elected them expect it. Going back to George Washington, the Senate has confirmed many nominees to the Supreme Court during a presidential election year. It has refused to confirm several when the President and Senate majority were of different parties. Senator McConnell is only doing what Democrat leaders have said they would do if the shoe were on the other foot. I have voted to confirm Justices Roberts, Alito, Sotomayor, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh based upon their intelligence, character and temperament. I will apply the same standard when I consider President Trump’s nomination to replace Justice Ginsburg.”

Reports say President Trump could make his nomination later this week.