McConnell now open to high court nomination in election year

(AP) – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is leaving the door open to taking up a nomination to the Supreme Court if a seat becomes vacant in the 2020 presidential election season.

The Kentucky Republican made the remark after winning a hard-fought battle to confirm President Donald Trump’s second high-court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.

In early 2016, McConnell refused to set hearings for President Barack Obama’s last nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, saying the seat left open by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia should be filled by the winner of that year’s election.

McConnell says an election-year vacancy isn’t filled if the party controlling the Senate is different from the party of the president.

McConnell appeared on “Fox News Sunday” and CBS’ “Face the Nation.”