McConnell: Bringing back retired judges to block Democrats 'worth taking a look at'

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) endorsed the idea of a retired conservative federal judge rescinding their resignation if their vacated seat would be filled by someone with a different ideology.

McConnell was asked by conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt about a hypothetical situation in which a conservative judge retires before the fall election, and then Vice President Joe Biden wins the election, leaving the vacancy to be offered most likely to a more progressive nominee.

McConnell has previously said he would block progressive initiatives if Democrats regained the White House in the 2020 election. He has obstructed the initiatives of Democratic administrations before, successfully blocking President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court and refusing even to schedule Senate hearings for the nominee.

From the April 22 edition of “The Hugh Hewitt Show”:

HUGH HEWITT, Host: Now I want to close, Sen. McConnell, by talking about judges again. I raised a hypothetical with Attorney General Barr yesterday, which he was not comfortable with, but I need an answer to it, I think a lot of federal judges who could retire need an answer to it.

 

They would retire if they knew they could revoke their retirement if their replacement wasn’t confirmed. Do you believe it’s constitutional for a federal judge at any level to turn in a resignation letter saying, “I will retire provided a successor is confirmed by Dec. 31, and if not, I am not retiring”?

 

Do you think that’s constitutional?

 

MITCH MCCONNELL: I could be wrong, but I think that’s been done before. That retirements have been announced contingent upon replacement. I’m not certain about that, but that’s a good way to — that’s something worth taking a look at.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.