“The bottom line is we’re not going to allow a rightwinger on the court,” he said.
Chuck Schumer, the soon-to-be Senate majority leader, has said Democrats will block Donald Trump from placing a “rightwinger” on the US supreme court, according to an interview with the Associated Press reported by The Guardian. Schumer said Democrats would not confirm “any crappy nominees” to the supreme court, the lower courts or the president’s cabinet. “The bottom line is we’re not going to allow a rightwinger on the court,” he said.
The remarks are a preview of how Democrats intend to use the power they won in this week’s midterm elections, in which they took back both chambers of Congress. According to the report, Democrats have secured 54 Senate seats for the next Congress, a figure that would rise to 56 if their candidates prevail in Mississippi and Alaska, neither of which has yet been called. They will hold at least 253 House seats after flipping more than 40, as of Friday morning.
The court is the sharpest point of friction. Trump nominated three justices during his first term — Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — entrenching a 6-3 conservative majority that has turned back many, though not all, challenges to his second-term policies. Four justices are in their seventies. Clarence Thomas, 78, and Samuel Alito, 76, are the oldest; Thomas has not indicated he plans to retire, and Alito told Fox News on Thursday that he intends to stay for the remainder of the term regardless of the Democratic victory. The report notes that Thomas or Alito could in theory be replaced by a Trump appointee during the six weeks of Republican Senate control that remain, though no retirement has been signalled.
Beyond nominations, Democratic leaders plan investigations into Trump and members of his administration. Robert Garcia, the incoming chair of the House oversight committee, warned Republicans on Tuesday evening to “lawyer up”. Others intend to advance legislation promised to voters, including restoring Medicaid cuts made under Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” and halting funding for the war in Iran. Trump has indicated he will veto bills he opposes, and the report does not say how Democrats would overcome that.
Republicans, meanwhile, are disputing the causes of their defeat. Vice-President JD Vance acknowledged frustration over the Iran war, Senator Ted Cruz blamed tariffs for raising costs, and Governor Ron DeSantis conceded that the party’s vote on the Epstein files reflected poorly on it. Trump has spent the days since the result on personal projects, including renovations to the White House ballroom and a proclamation on the design of the Oval Office. On Friday a federal judge blocked construction of his planned triumphal arch for 14 days.
What remains unconfirmed is whether any supreme court vacancy will arise during the lame-duck session, and how a Senate majority of 54 or 56 would actually handle a nomination. Schumer’s threat is a statement of intent, not a tested procedure; the numbers, the timing and the nominee are all still unknown.
