Election live updates: Romney backs voting this year on Trump nominee to replace Ginsburg

September 22, 2020 at 2:58 PM EDT

By Donna Cassata and Seung Min Kim

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that Republicans will move ahead on the confirmation process for Trump’s Supreme Court nominee but offered no specifics on the timing for a vote.

Speaking to reporters after the weekly GOP lunch, McConnell said Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) will lay out the plan for handling the nominee after Trump makes his announcement, which is widely expected on Saturday.

Other Senate Republicans indicated that they expect the nominee to be someone who has been vetted, most likely a federal judge.

“When the nomination comes out of committee, then I’ll decide when and how to proceed,” McConnell said.

Trump has said he would like the Senate to vote before the Nov. 3 election, a quick turnaround on a nominee.

Republicans, who hold a 53-47 majority, have signaled they will vote to confirm Trump’s choice even though they don’t know who he will choose. Democrats are largely powerless to stop the GOP though they can slow down the process.

On Tuesday, Democrats invoked the two-hour rule, which restricts the times that most Senate committees and subcommittees can meet when the Senate is in session, to prevent committees from meeting. The move was a form of protest over the push to fill the Supreme Court vacancy within days of the election, according to a Democratic aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal decisions.