U.S. Supreme Court

Schumer Says Senators 'Duped' By Justices

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A powerful Democratic senator from New York told the American Constitution Society on Friday that the Senate should avoid confirming another one of President Bush’s Supreme Court nominees.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said a confirmation to the high court should only come in “extraordinary circumstances,” reports The Politico.

He told the group, which was gathered in Washington, D.C., for a convention, that it was time to “reverse the presumption of confirmation.”

“The Supreme Court is dangerously out of balance. We cannot afford to see Justice Stevens replaced by another Roberts, or Justice Ginsburg by another Alito,” Politico reports.

Reuters further reports that Schumer said that senators had been “duped” by then-nominees John Roberts and Samuel Alito when they appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee for their confirmation hearings.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino denounced the senator’s comments as showing “a tremendous disrespect for the Constitution.”

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