Democrat Senator: 'We'll use every tool at our disposal' to slow Trump's court nomination

Senate Democrats are going to use "every tool at our disposal" to "slow down" President Trump's nomination to the Supreme Court, Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy told Just the News Tuesday.

Some Democrats have expressed a willingness to increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court. Murphy was asked if he wants to see the court expanded.

"Our focus right now needs to be on stopping this justice," Murphy said after speaking on a conference call about the Supreme Court case California v. Texas related to the Affordable Care Act.

"I know that there's a lot of political pundits interested in talking about, you know, what Democrats would do if we won the majority of the Senate and the majority of the House and the White House next year, but this is a existential crisis right now," said Murphy. "People's lives are on the line, and we've got to be doing the business of building a political movement all around the country to make it clear to Republicans that there are consequences if they vote to take away health care from 25 million Americans." 

Murphy said he understands that there's "some interest in conversations about process changes" that could occur in the Senate next year. 

"Right now, we need to keep our eye on the ball, which is saving health care for 25 million Americans," he said. "I mean, I don't know that anybody's talking about trying to impeach the president between now and the election. We'll use every tool at our disposal in the Senate to try to slow down this nomination and to try to make sure that this person, whoever it is, is properly vetted."

"We want to make sure," Murphy continued, "that everybody in this country understands that a radical nominee is potentially about to head to the court that will erase people's health care, criminalize abortion and take away the ability of Congress to regulate firearms. We're reviewing our procedural tools, and we'll use as many of them as we can find." 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was asked over the weekend if she would consider using impeachment as a way to stop President Trump's expected nomination to the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

"We have our options," she said.