Reversal on filling an election-year Supreme Court vacancy, 2016-2020
Senator Lindsey Graham drew criticism after outlets reported that he reversed his 2016 and 2018 public statements that an election-year Supreme Court vacancy should be left to the next president. In 2020, as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, he backed and ran the fast confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett weeks before the election, citing changed Senate rules and the Kavanaugh fight.
Editorial timeline of public reporting, not a legal finding.
- Says "use my words against me" on election-year vacancies - NPR and PolitiFact reported that at a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on March 10, 2016, during the standoff over President Barack Obama's nominee Merrick Garland, Graham said: "If there's a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said let's let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination." He added that "you could use my words against me." 'Use My Words Against Me': Lindsey Graham's Shifting Position On Court Vacancies
- Repeats the position at an Atlantic event - PolitiFact reported that at an Atlantic magazine event on Oct. 3, 2018, Graham said: "If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump's term, and the primary process has started, we'll wait until the next election." NPR reported the same remark from his October 2018 interview with Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg. Sen. Lindsey Graham flip-flops on filling a Supreme Court vacancy in an election year
- Backs moving forward on Ginsburg's seat - CNN and NPR reported that on Sept. 19, 2020, the day after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, Graham, then chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote on Twitter that he would support President @realDonaldTrump "in any effort to move forward" on the vacancy. He pointed to Democrats' earlier change to Senate confirmation rules and the 2018 Kavanaugh confirmation fight. NPR described it as a reversal of his earlier position. Lindsey Graham commits to supporting Trump 'in any effort to move forward' in filling Ginsburg's seat
- Opens Barrett hearings amid accusations of inconsistency - BBC Persian reported that as Graham opened the Judiciary Committee hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett on Oct. 12, 2020, three weeks before the presidential election, Democrats said the process should wait until after the vote. It said his critics accused him of duplicity because in 2016 he had repeatedly told reporters that Supreme Court nominees should not be considered in a presidential election year. بررسی صلاحیت نامزد ترامپ برای دیوان عالی آمریکا با جدال سناتورها شروع شد
- Barrett confirmed 52-48 days before the election - AP reported that the Senate confirmed Barrett late on Oct. 26, 2020, by a deeply divided Senate days before the election. BBC Persian reported the 52-48 tally, with Susan Collins the only Republican voting no, and said Democrats called the move hypocrisy because Republicans had refused in 2016 to consider President Obama's nominee in an election year. Barrett confirmed as Supreme Court justice in partisan vote