Trump on filling Supreme Court seat: “Elections have consequences”

(CBS News) - The first question of the presidential debate was about the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill the vacant Supreme Court seat, and Biden’s belief that the vacancy should not be filled ahead of the election.

President Trump argued that he had the right to fill the seat before November, because the Republican Party had control of the Senate and the White House.

“We won the election. Elections have consequences. We have the Senate, we have the White House, and we have a phenomenal nominee,” Mr. Trump said.

He also implied that he was not opposed to the Senate confirming the nominee after the election, saying, “I have a lot of time after the election, as you know.”

Mr. Trump also addressed how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked the confirmation of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court four years ago, when President Obama was in office.

“They had Merrick Garland, but the problem is, they didn’t have the election, so they were stopped,” Mr. Trump said. “So we won the election and we had the right to do it.”

However, Biden argued that the election had already begun, with millions of people already casting absentee ballots or voting early.

“The American people have a right to have a say in who the Supreme Court nominee is,” Biden said. “They’re not going to get that chance now because we’re in the middle of the election already.”

“We should wait and see what the outcome of this election is,” Biden added, saying that he was “not opposed to the justice” as a person. He raised concerns that she might rule to overturn the Affordable Care Act.

“It’s just not appropriate to do this before the election,” Biden said.