Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement on Wednesday has prompted an immediate confirmation battle heading into the Fall mid-terms and is already having an impact on Tennessee’s Senate race.
Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07), who is running to succeed Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), issued a statement shortly after Kennedy made his plans known and indicated her intent to support President Donald Trump’s nominee.
Blackburn called the confirmation of Supreme Court justices “one of the Senate’s most important responsibilities. As Tennessee’s next Senator, I will vote to confirm constitutional justices, who will follow the rule of law and do not legislate from the bench. It’s absolutely critical to confirm justices who understand the importance of upholding the Constitution, including the right to life.”
Former Democrat Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen, was more equivocal about his approach to the Supreme Court vacancy, saying a candidate’s character and qualifications are more important than party lines. “I just think we have such a partisan mess in Washington right now,” Bredesen said. “This is a real chance to start unwinding that in something that is very visible and important to the country.”
Bredesen also issued a statement on Twitter on Wednesday, just hours after Kennedy announced his retirement.
“Not long ago, Senate judicial confirmations were free of openly partisan politics. Justices Scalia & Ginsburg each got 90+ votes. I’m going to vote for or against a nominee based solely on whether I believe them to be highly qualified & ethical, not based on partisan politics,” Bredesen said in the tweet:
Not long ago, Senate judicial confirmations were free of openly partisan politics. Justices Scalia & Ginsburg each got 90+ votes. I’m going to vote for or against a nominee based solely on whether I believe them to be highly qualified & ethical, not based on partisan politics. pic.twitter.com/NgzGQC8E4K
— Phil Bredesen (@PhilBredesen) June 27, 2018
Bredesen failed to note that Justice Neil Gorsuch was confirmed by a vote of 54-45, mostly along party lines. Only three Democrats, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Joe Donnelly (D-IN), sided with the GOP majority. All three of those Senators are facing re-election in 2018 in states that President Donald Trump carried by double digits in 2016. Many Democrats commenting on Bredesen’s Twitter account were openly hostile to the prospect that he might consider supporting a Trump nominee to the Court.
Notably, Bredesen has apparently never made a public statement about whether he supported or opposed the confirmation of Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
Democrat Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who recruited Bredesen to run for Corker’s Senate seat, is already calling on his fellow Democrats to reject any nominee who does not embrace abortion. Although Trump has not yet announced his selection of a replacement for Kennedy, liberal Democrats are already in a meltdown.
Will Bredesen have the courage to reject the overwhelming pressures of his political party should he be elected to the Senate, particularly when a next likely vacancy on the Court will probably be one of the liberal Justices such as Ruth Bader Ginsberg or Stephen Breyer?
Liberal Democrats who are in hysterics over the replacement of the moderate swing Justice Kennedy with a Gorsuch-like Constitutional conservative will be apoplectic at the prospects of seeing one of the reliably liberal justices replaced by a staunch conservative. There seems to be little, if any, evidence in Bredesen’s track record that indicates he actually would buck the Democratic Party leadership as a freshman Senator and cross the aisle to support a Trump nominee to the Supreme Court.
In fact, earlier in the day Wednesday, before issuing his tepid and carefully crafted statement, Bredesen completely avoided answering repeated questions from a Blackburn campaign volunteer about whether or not he would support a Trump nomination to replace Kennedy.
Whether you identify as Republican , Independent or moderate to conservative Democratic, Phil
Bredesen will only be a single vote in a 50 plus or minus body.of the Senate. His Leadership as
head of the State Government will be as different as Daylight & Dark serving in the U.S.Senate!
There it will be go along to get along or be shunned & moved to the basement offices by the
(D) leadership. . It’s certainly beyond his “If it’s good for Tenn” homespun statements!
Don’t do it Tennessee, don’t be fooled by Bredesen! If you cannot see through this evasive and deflective answer you have no business voting. He will NOT vote for any Justice President Trump appoints. His role in the U. S Senate will be totally different than his past role of Tennessee governor. I liked him as governor but do not want him in the senate. Radical and nutty Dick Schumer will dictate how Phil votes and if he doesn’t ‘toe’ the democratic party line, he gets no pie for Tennessee. Voters think seriously what is at stake.
He’ll go to Washington and vote the way Chuckie Shumer tells him to vote, like all Democrats do.
Don’t ever trust him.
Bredesen is trying to take the “moderate” approach that worked for Connor Lamb in PA. Please don’t be fooled by this sneaky tactic. A vote for Phil Bredesen is a vote for liberal policies and support for Schumer, Pelosi and Maxine Waters. Vote Marcha Blackburn to support Trump’s conservative policies. Drain the Swamp!
We need to diffently vote for Blackburn. Bredrsen is just another Schumer and we don’t need him in Washington just to be another throne in Trump side. He has plenty the way it is. We need all conservatives on the Supreme Court cause we don’t need this nation just turn over with no fundamental rules and laws that our country was founded on.
Phil Bredesen is the consummate swamp creature. Please do not vote for this guy. Straggling the fence on major issues is what Democrats are all about during the lead up to elections. Once they get in the far left agenda becomes front and center.
Bredesen is positioning himself to get elected. What he is saying pre-election most probably has no correlation with how he would actually vote post-election. Caveat emptor!
If he cannot answer such an important question ,than I cannot trust him so easy for me.No Bredesen you are like all the other Democrats who are afraid of Chuck Shumer be a man and grow up.My vote for you is a NONO period.
When Bredesen was governor, he stated he would close several nursing homes and collect millions of dollars!! Well he did but in the mean time, the nursing homes that are good ones, and seniors who need care can not get it because of his legislation. It is very hard to get in the nursing home and be approved medically for medicaid. The elderly have to stay at home in unsafe conditions or live with family members. I thought when Haslam took over it would change but it did no. So NO!!! I will not vot for Breseden!!!
I like Phil and voted for him twice, but with Schumer in the driver seat, could not take a chance on another Dem Senator.
[…] avoid giving direct answers to some of the more defining issues in the November elections including whether he would vote for a Constitutional originalist like Neil Gorsuch and whether he agrees with the U.S. Supreme […]
Amen! If anybody thinks that Bredesen would ever vote out of line with Chuck the Schumk, they are nuts! Marsha Blackburn is not all that conservative, but she’s way better than Bredesen and she will vote for a Constitutionalist as the next Justice.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out where Bredesen truly stands on this. Just another significant reason to keep him out of the Senate.
Avoiding the question gives you the answer. What’s wrong with telling the truth, except if you consider that power is more important.