Chuck Schumer responded at his own news conference that Democrats would give a “very careful look” to Supreme Court nominees that they viewed as being within the legal mainstream. | Getty Schumer, McConnell trade shots ahead of SCOTUS showdown

The Supreme Court war between Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer has begun.

The two Senate leaders on Wednesday launched their opening volleys in what is sure to be a contentious battle to confirm Donald Trump’s future nominee to the Supreme Court. This time, it’s Republicans who are vowing to press forward with the eventual nomination — and Democrats already threatening to block the person chosen to replace deceased Justice Antonin Scalia.


The Senate majority leader latched onto Schumer’s remarks from Tuesday night that Democrats were “absolutely” prepared to keep the current Supreme Court vacancy open. McConnell, who spent most of last year engineering his own blockade of Merrick Garland, was quick to criticize his new counterpart’s pledge.

“Apparently, there’s yet a new standard which is to not confirm a Supreme Court nominee at all,” McConnell told reporters Wednesday at the GOP leadership’s weekly news conference. “I think that’s something the American people simply will not tolerate.”

The Kentucky Republican added: “We’ll be looking forward to receiving a Supreme Court nomination and moving forward on it.”

Schumer responded at his own news conference that Democrats would give a “very careful look” to Supreme Court nominees that they viewed as being within the legal mainstream. But “if they’re out of the mainstream, we’ll oppose them tooth and nail.”

Schumer declined to define mainstream, saying, “Well, you know it when you see it.” In an MSNBC interview Tuesday night, Schumer said it was “hard” for him to imagine a Trump high court nominee who would be able to garner Democratic support.

The coming Supreme Court fight in the Senate promises to be one of the most combative battles of Trump's early presidency. Republicans are eager to replace Scalia with another conservative. Democrats are still incensed about Republicans’ treatment of Garland – the well-respected chief judge of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals whom President Barack Obama nominated last March – and eager for payback.

But Schumer, the new Senate minority leader, dismissed suggestions that Democrats were threatening the same obstruction tactics that Republicans used on Garland.

“First, we have said that we will oppose nominees who are out of the mainstream, plain and simple. We haven’t talked about hearings, we haven’t talked about any of these other issues, but we will oppose nominees out of the mainstream. Period,” Schumer said. “If they put someone in the mainstream we’ll give them a careful look and we hope they will.”