(CNN) Senate Republican leaders, undeterred by the scathing criticism leveled against them for blocking President Barack Obama's election-year Supreme Court nominee in 2016, are signaling that they are prepared to confirm a nominee by President Donald Trump even if that vacancy occurred after this year's election. The push comes despite ample apprehension from influential Republicans that the GOP could pay a political price for treating a nominee under Trump differently than they did under Obama. "We will," said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the second-ranking Republican leader, when asked if the Senate would fill a vacancy, even during the lame-duck session after the presidential election. But the veteran Iowa Republican who chaired the Judiciary Committee in 2016 and helped block Judge Merrick Garland -- Obama's nominee -- by refusing to schedule election-year confirmation hearings, said he would not fill a fill a vacancy now for the same reason. "My position is if I were chairman of the committee I couldn't move forward with it," Sen. Chuck Grassley told CNN.

Source: CNN July 21, 2020 01:02 UTC