Graham claims Senate GOP has votes to confirm new SCOTUS justice before Election Day

close

Video

Lindsey Graham: Dems will destroy anybody's life to keep SCOTUS seat open

Senate Judiciary chair explains how Democrats are attempting to change rules for their benefit

Senate Republicans have enough votes to confirm a replacement for late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the Nov. 3 election, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told "Hannity" Monday.

"It's pretty obvious that if they [Democrats] want an outcome, they'll just destroy anybody's life to keep the seats open," Graham told host Sean Hannity.

GRAHAM PRAISES RBG AS 'TRAILBLAZER' WHO SERVED WITH 'HONOR AND DISTINCTION' 

"They said they tried to destroy Brett Kavanaugh so they could fill the seat — they were dumb enough to say that," Graham added. "I've seen this movie before. It's not going to work, it didn't work with Kavanaugh.

"We've got the votes to confirm Justice Ginsburg's replacement before the election. We're going to move forward in the committee, we're going to report the nomination out of the committee to the floor of the United States Senate so we can vote before the election. Now, that's the constitutional process."

Protesters gathered outside Graham's Washington, D.C. home Monday morning after he pledged to move the nomination process along in the Senate.

Graham's critics have pointed to his statements after Senate Republicans refused to move forward on Barack Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland in 2016. As recently as October 2018, the South Carolina Republican stated: "If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump's term, and the primary process has started, we'll wait till the next election."

GRAHAM SIDES WITH TRUMP ON SCOTUS VACANCY 

"After Kavanaugh, everything changed with me," Graham said. "They are not going to intimidate me, [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell, or anybody else."

The Judiciary Committee chair added that Trump's nominee, expected to be announced later this week, "will be supported by every Republican in the Judiciary Committee.

"We’ve got the votes to confirm the judge, the justice on the floor of the Senate before the election," he asserted, "and that's what's coming."