'CONSIDER ALL OPTIONS'
AOC says Democrats must consider impeaching Trump and Barr to stop Supreme Court nomination
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"We must consider, again, all of the tools available to our disposal," said on Sunday at a joint press conference with Senate Minority Leader .
A reporter asked Ocasio-Cortez whether she would be in support of potentially reviewing talks of impeachment hearings either against the AG or the president.
"I believe that certainly there has been an enormous amount of law-breaking in the Trump administration. I believe that Attorney General Barr is unfit for office and that he has pursued potentially law-breaking behavior,” Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez replied.
She continued: "That being said, these are procedures and decisions that are largely up to House Democratic leadership. But I believe that also we must consider, again, all of the tools available to our disposal and that all of these options should be entertained and on the table.”
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Ocasio-Cortez, , then warned that the stakes are too high to let Trump select a replacement before an election.
"It's extraordinarily important that we understand the stakes of this vacancy,"Ocasio-Cortez cautioned. "Our reproductive rights are on the line. Our labor rights are on the line. Our rights to healthcare are on the line."
Her remarks echoed the sentiments House Speaker shared earlier on Sunday with ABC News’ This Week with George Stephanopoulos.
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Pelosi refused to rule out the possibility of using impeachment to hold up the Republicans' push for a Supreme Court confirmation following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
"We have our options," Pelosi
"We have arrows in our quiver that I'm not about to discuss right now but the fact is we have a big challenge in our country," Pelosi replied.
"This president has threatened to not even accept the results of the election. Our main goal would be to protect the integrity of the election as we protect the people from the coronavirus."
"This president has threatened to not even accept the results of the election. "Our main goal would be to protect the integrity of the election as we protect the people from the coronavirus."
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Ginsburg's death on Friday left a vacancy on the Supreme Court - setting up an explosive battle over one of the most contentious issues in American politics.
Democrats are furious after Senate majority leader suggested the GOP would hold an early vote to confirm .
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested earlier Democrats could try to pack the court with liberals by increasing the number of judges from the current nine.
Ocasio-Cortez said Republicans were "violating" Justice Ginsburg's dying wish that she should not be replaced until the next president is sworn in.
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Former CNN presenter Reza Aslan : "If they even TRY to replace RBG we burn the entire f***ing thing down."
Political commentator Laura Bassett, who writes for GQ and the Washington Post, said: "If McConnell jams someone through, which he will, there will be riots."
Daddy Files author Aaron Gouveia tweeted: "F*** no. Burn it all down."
Democrats are even considering adding two stars to the American flag, by way of pushing through statehood for Washington DC and Puerto Rico, in order to add two more justices to the Supreme Court,
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler on Saturday: "If Sen. McConnell and @SenateGOP were to force through a nominee during the lame duck session—before a new Senate and President can take office—then the incoming Senate should immediately move to expand the Supreme Court."
"If he holds a vote in 2020, we pack the court in 2021," Democratic Representative Joe Kennedy III .
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President Trump has appointed two Supreme Court judges in his first term - tipping the panel to a 5-4 majority for conservatives before Ginsburg's death.
The president said on Saturday that he would seek to nominate a replacement "without delay" and said .
Trump said: "We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of which has long been considered to be the selection of United States Supreme Court Justices."
Sen. McConnell said Trump's nomination would get a vote in the Senate, where the GOP's majority could seal the appointment before November.
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But Republicans were accused of hypocrisy after they blocked a vote on President Obama's pick for the Supreme Court shortly before the 2016 election.
Leading senators including Lindsay Graham were savaged for apparently going back on promises they made four years ago.
He said in 2016 that the appointment should be left to the incoming president and said the same rule would apply if a vacancy arose at the end of Trump's first term.
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was also after saying in 2016 that Congress had a "constitutional duty" to fill the vacancy even before an election.
He tweeted after Ginsburg's death: “Let me be clear: The voters should pick a President, and that President should select a successor to Justice Ginsburg,”
Trump's list of potential SCOTUS picks
On September 9, Trump released a list of 20 additional people he might nominate to the Supreme Court if there was a vacancy, on top of 25 people previously named
- Bridget Bade, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
- Amy Coney Barrett, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit
- Keith Blackwell, a justice of the Georgia Supreme Court
- Daniel Cameron, Kentucky's attorney general
- Charles Canady, a Florida Supreme Court justice
- Paul Clement, a partner with Kirkland & Ellis, LLP
- Steven Colloton, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit
- Tom Cotton, US senator from Arkansas
- Ted Cruz, US senator from Texas
- Stuart Kyle Duncan, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit
- Allison Eid, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit
- Steven Engel, the assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice
- Noel Francisco, the US solicitor general until July
- Britt Grant, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit
- Raymond Gruender, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit
- Thomas Hardiman, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit
- Josh Hawley, a US senator from Missouri
- James Ho, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit
- Gregory Katsas, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
- Raymond Kethledge, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit
- Barbara Lagoa, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit
- Christopher Landau, the US ambassador to Mexico
- Joan Larsen, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit
- Mike Lee, a US senator from Utah
- Thomas Lee, a justice on the Supreme Court of Utah
- Edward Mansfield, a justice of the Iowa Supreme Court
- Federico Moreno, a federal judge in Florida
- Carlos Muniz, a justice on the Florida Supreme Court
- Kevin Newsom, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit
- Martha Pacold, a federal judge in Illinois
- Peter Phipps, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit
- Sarah Pitlyk, a federal judge in Missouri
- William Pryor, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit
- Allison Jones Rushing, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit
- Margaret Ryan, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
- David Stras, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit
- Diane Sykes, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit
- Amul Thapar, a judge of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky
- Kate Todd, deputy counsel to Trump
- Timothy Tymkovich, chief judge of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals
- Lawrence VanDyke, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
- Don Willett, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit
- Patrick Wyrick, a judge on the Supreme Court of Oklahoma
- Robert Young, chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court
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Conservatives are keen to appoint another right wing judge to the lifetime position, creating a 6-3 dominance that could last decades.
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Liberals fear such a one-sided panel could reverse decades of progress on civil rights such as abortion laws.
Trump is set to name his pick in the coming week and already has a shortlist in mind, according to reports.
Nancy Pelosi open to using impeachment to clog up Senate if Trump moves to fill Supreme Court seat
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