Romney Confirms He Will Support a Vote on Trump SCOTUS Pick

Fox News has more on the Senator's decision:

Sen. Mitt Romney said on Tuesday that he supports the Senate in moving forward with a Supreme Court nominee from President Trump ahead of the presidential election, further tipping the nomination math in favor of Republicans who want to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with a conservative.

“My decision regarding a Supreme Court nomination is not the result of a subjective test of ‘fairness’ which, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder," Romney, R-Utah, said in a statement. "It is based on the immutable fairness of following the law, which in this case is the Constitution and precedent. The historical precedent of election year nominations is that the Senate generally does not confirm an opposing party’s nominee but does confirm a nominee of its own."

The senator, who voted to remove Trump from office earlier this year, continued: “The Constitution gives the President the power to nominate and the Senate the authority to provide advice and consent on Supreme Court nominees. Accordingly, I intend to follow the Constitution and precedent in considering the President’s nominee. If the nominee reaches the Senate floor, I intend to vote based upon their qualifications.”

Romney expanded on his logic in subsequent comments to the press on Tuesday.

"We may have a court that has a more conservative bent," than it has had in recent decades, Romney said after his announcement. "But my liberal friends have over many decades gotten used to the idea of having a liberal court. And that's not written in the stars."

CNBC with more:

Republicans aim to quickly confirm the next justice on the top U.S. court even with a presidential election only six weeks away. As the Senate has 53 GOP senators and Vice President Mike Pence can break a tie, four Republicans would have needed to buck their party to block consideration of a nominee before the election.

While GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have opposed filling the seat before the election, it is unclear who other than Romney — the only senator to break from his party in voting to remove Trump from office this year — would join them. Despite his support for considering a nominee, Romney did not commit to voting to confirm the president’s eventual court pick.

“What I intend to is to proceed with the consideration process, and if a nominee actually reaches the floor, then I will vote based upon the qualifications of that nominee,” he told reporters Tuesday after issuing the statement.

Trump plans to announce his choice for the lifetime Supreme Court appointment on Saturday.

The court vacancy has supercharged tensions in an already fraught election. While the GOP hopes the prospect of securing a 6-3 conservative majority on the court will excite voters, Democrats have denounced the push to fill the seat before the end of Trump’s term as they try to gain Senate control from Republicans in November.

This seemingly gives Romney a pass in some Republicans' eyes, at least for about a month...