A political firestorm was ignited when U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia passed away.
President Barack Obama said he would nominate a successor as per the Constitution. Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidates and U.S. Senate leaders said Obama should let the next president make the nomination — among them, Senate Majority Leader and Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell.
During a nationally televised interview, McConnell said Senate Republicans are "following a longstanding tradition of not filling vacancies on the Supreme Court in the middle of a presidential election year."
PolitiFact Florida heard the claim and gave it a FALSE rating.
PolitiFact writer Joshua Gillin said the longstanding tradition McConnell is referencing doesn’t exist.
"There’s been four times that a Supreme Court vacancy has had to be filled in an election year," Gillin said. "Three times, it actually was [a presidential election year]."
For that reason, Gillin says McConnell’s claim received a FALSE rating.
SOURCES: Republicans holding up U.S. Supreme Court nomination 'tradition' McConnell says
- SCOTUSblog, "Supreme Court vacancies in presidential election years," Feb. 13, 2016
- PolitiFact, "Ted Cruz overstates Supreme Court nomination 'tradition,'" Feb. 14, 2016
- US Senate, "Supreme Court Nominations, present-1789," accessed March 21, 2016
- Washington Post, "Does the Senate have a constitutional responsibility to consider a Supreme Court nomination?" March 16, 2016
- PolitiFact, "Rubio exaggerates in saying it's been 80 years since a 'lame duck' made a Supreme Court nomination," Feb, 14, 2016
- PolitiFact, "Paul Ryan wrong in saying there is precedent for not nominating a justice in a presidential campaign," March 4, 2016
- Cook Political Report, "The Long History of Presidents Nominating Supreme Court Justices in Presidential Election Years," Feb, 15, 2016
- Washington Post, "A recent Supreme Court appointment in an election year — without controversy," Feb. 24, 2016
- Josh Blackman blog, Nominations to Supreme Court in Election Year with Divided and Unified Governments, Feb. 13, 2016
- Email interview, McConnell spokesman Don Stewart, March 21, 2016