Durbin not ruling out filibuster of Trump Supreme Court nominee

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said via Twitter on Monday he will nominate a Supreme Court justice on Tuesday evening.

Earlier, Trump said in a tweet the announcement would be Tuesday.

Among those mentioned as possible nominees is the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Diane Sykes.

Senate Republicans blocked even a hearing for former President Barack Obama’s Supreme court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, a Chicago native.

Because Republicans control the Senate, they have the power to prevent a hearing or a vote.

Given that, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., was asked on FOX News Sunday by host Chris Wallace, “Are you prepared to rule out a Democratic filibuster of this nominee?”

Durbin said in reply, “Let me just say, I’m not going to jump ahead and tell you how I’m going to treat any nominee until I know who they are, what they stand for. What we’ve said is that if you’ll bring us a moderate nominee, and I’ve told the White House this directly, one that is not too extreme on the right or the left.”

Durbin, referring to the GOP Senate blockade on Garland told Wallace, when he comes to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and how a Trump nominee will be treated, Durbin said, “We just want to be treated the way we treated Obama nominees. Does he think we have amnesia? That [McConnell] refused, for the first time in the history of the Senate, to meet with or have a hearing on vote on a Supreme Court nominee.”

“We’re going to treat this nominee fairly, but we need to know who he or she is, what they stand for, and believe that they’re in the mainstream of thinking when it comes to American political thought.”