Hillary Clinton will outline her view of the Supreme Court on Monday in Madison, Wisconsin, and the Democratic frontrunner will express concern over who a President Donald Trump would nominate to the high court, according to an aide.
Clinton, the aide said, is “greatly concerned about the kind of nominee that a President Trump might put forward,” a point she will make in the speech at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“Based on his positions on a number of issues, there is good reason to believe a Trump nominee would seek to roll back our rights, further empower corporations, and undo so much of the progress we’ve achieved,” Clinton will say, according to the aide.
Because of this, Clinton’s aide said the candidate will urge voters to put the Supreme Court “at the front of their minds as they consider their choice for President in 2016.”
While Clinton regularly mentions the Supreme Court and the possibility of the next president possibly having the opportunity to nominate more justices, she has not been overly outspoken about Merrick Garland, the federal judge President Barack Obama tapped earlier this month to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
Clinton backed Garland in a written statement, noting his “considerable experience on the bench and in public service.”
The aide said that with the speech, Clinton will “join the battle over the Supreme Court.”
“Given the range of cases currently before the Court – on everything from immigration to a woman’s right to choose, affirmative action to voting rights – Clinton will say that the core pillars of the progressive movement are at risk of being upended by the Court in a single term,” the aide added.
So far, Republicans in the Senate have declined to advance Garland’s nomination. Many Senate Republicans are refusing to meet with him, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has pledged not to give the nominee a hearing.
Clinton also will knock a number of Congressional Republicans for this, including Ron Johnson, Wisconsin’s GOP senator, who has said he will not consider Garland.
Clinton will particularly call out Sen. Chuck Grassley, too, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Clinton, the aide said, will call on Grassley to “do his job.”
After a series of wins in Western states for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Clinton and the Democratic race’s focus turns to Wisconsin, where voters will head to the polls on April 5.