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Lindsey Graham Backflips on SCOTUS Vow: I Support ‘Any Effort to Move Forward’

“If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump’s term, and the primary process has started, we'll wait to the next election,” he said in 2018.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, once thought it unacceptable to confirm a Supreme Court justice during an election year. In 2016, when Senate Republicans refused to confirm Obama-nominee Merrick Garland, citing the proximity of the election. Graham said, “I want you to use my words against me. If there’s a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said let’s let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination.” He reiterated it several times, including in 2018. “If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump’s term, and the primary process has started, we'll wait to the next election,” he said.

But, after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday, he tweeted Saturday, “I will support President @realDonaldTrump in any effort to move forward regarding the recent vacancy created by the passing of Justice Ginsburg.” In another tweet, he linked to an article outlining his rationale for the about-face. “After [Brett] Kavanaugh, the rules have changed as far as I’m concerned,” he was quoted as saying.