President Joe Biden may have increased trouble appointing justices to the Supreme Court in the remainder of his term.

On Thursday, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was interviewed by Axios and questioned about his leadership of Senate Republicans, the direction of the party ahead of the midterms and what it may mean for the Biden administration. When asked if McConnell would hold hearings for future Supreme Court nominees from Biden, he demurred on making any commitments.

"What I can tell you for sure, if the House and Senate are Republican next year, the president will finally be the moderate he campaigned as," McConnell told Axios’ Jonathan Swan.

McConnell’s comments appeared to be a warning to Biden and likely to infuriate Democrats, who still nurse bitter memories of the longtime Senate stalwart's apparent double standards when it comes to nominees for the Supreme Court.

In February 2016, McConnell refused to hold hearings for Judge Merrick Garland, then-President Barack Obama’s nominee to fill a seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, a darling of the conservative legal movement. McConnell argued that voters should make the final decision on who fills the seat because the opening emerged in an election year.

Garland ultimately never received a hearing and was confirmed as Attorney General in 2021 after being nominated by President Biden.

Yet after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in September 2020, McConnell allowed the Senate to proceed with hearings for former President Donald Trump’s nominee to fill her seat, Amy Coney Barrett. This sparked outrage because Barrett’s nomination came only two months before a presidential election which saw Trump defeated by Biden that November.

When pressed by Swan on whether he was "developing an argument" for not holding hearings on Supreme Court nominees outside election years, McConnell declined to provide a clear answer.

"I'm suggesting that I'm not going to answer your question,” McConnell retorted.

McConnell's comments come on a day when Biden's first nominee, Judge Ketanji Jackson Brown, is expected to be confirmed by the Senate to the seat of retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. Brown, who had served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, was assailed by Republican senators for her past work as a defense attorney, her views on conservative pet issues like critical race theory, and her views on gender.

In remarks Tuesday before the Senate, McConnell said that he would not back Jackson's nomination but conceded she will likely be confirmed after receiving the support of three Republican senators. He added top Republicans will not question her legitimacy as a member of the highest court.

RELATED STORIES