mitch mcconnell promises senate vote on new supreme court nominee by fall crediterin schaff for the new york timesjune 27 2018washington senator mitch mcconnell wasted no time on wednesday and promised a senate vote on a new supreme court nominee by the fall and democrats will have little power to prevent confirmation of president trumps choice on their ownthe senate stands ready to fulfill its constitutional role by offering advice and consent on president trumps nominee to fill this vacancy mr mcconnell republican of kentucky and the majority leader said after justice anthony m kennedy announced his retirement we will vote to confirm justice kennedys successor this fallthe decision to move swiftly shows that mr mcconnell and his fellow senate republicans do not intend to give democrats and their allies an extended opportunity to build opposition to a nominee or to retake the senate and blockade confirmation as republicans did with president barack obamas nominee in 2016the confirmation process will throw a volatile new issue into the already charged midterm campaign season providing fresh challenges for both republican and democratic candidatesbut it represents an opportunity for a crowning judicial triumph for mr mcconnell who led the blockade against merrick b garland in 2016 and will now have the chance to usher a second republicannominated justice onto the supreme court in the first two years of mr trumps presidency he has already guided scores of appeals and district court judges onto the benchin elevating neil m gorsuch to the supreme court last year republicans altered senate rules to deny democrats the opportunity to filibuster the nomination as well as future supreme court choices that procedural change following a similar 2013 democratic effort to speed confirmation for lower court judges means that republicans can confirm a second trump pick with only republican votes though they hold a very narrow 51to49 majoritybut because one of those republicans senator john mccain of arizona is absent with cancer and unlikely to be on hand for future votes the resistance of a single republican could be an obstacle to confirmation that may influence mr trumps selection process and prevent him from making a risky conservative choice that could ignite resistance from his own party it will also drive democrats to put intense pressure on more moderate republicans like senators susan collins of maine and lisa murkowski of alaska who support abortion rightsdemocrats made clear that they intend to focus on a potential threat to roe v wade as part of their effort to upend a trump nominee they find objectionable or failing that to deploy the issue along with health care as a rallying point for voters in novembersenator chuck schumer of new york the democratic leader called on his colleagues to block any nominee who would encroach on established rights that democrats consider sacrosanctthe senate should reject on a bipartisan basis any justice who would overturn roe v wade or undermine key health care protections he saidsenator bernie sanders the vermont independent who ran for