WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer vowed on Thursday that Democrats will not allow President Donald Trump to put "a right-winger" on the Supreme Court once they take power in the Senate, raising the possibility that his party could block a presidential nominee outright if a vacancy opens in the next two years.

Source: Associated Press

In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, Schumer would not say whether he would hold a Supreme Court vacancy open until after the next presidential election — the move former Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell used in 2016. But he was blunt about the standard any Trump pick would face: Democrats are "not going to allow any crappy nominees" to be confirmed to the Supreme Court, to the lower federal courts, or to Trump's Cabinet either.

"The bottom line is we're not going to allow a right-winger on the court," Schumer said.

A pledge made two days after a decisive Senate win

Schumer's pledge came two days after Democrats won a decisive Senate majority in Tuesday's midterm elections — a result few predicted a year ago, when Schumer was facing intense criticism from progressives inside his own party and Senate Republicans were betting that a favourable map and Trump's backing would help them keep power. Democrats could hold as many as 56 seats if they also win Mississippi and Alaska, two races that have still not been called — what Schumer called "a durable majority," 20 years in the making, built while he has been directly or indirectly in charge of his party's Senate campaign operation.

With that many seats, Schumer is betting that "it's not just a flip of the Senate once." The majority would give Democrats the power not only to reject Trump's nominees and force him toward more moderate choices, but also, in Schumer's telling, to halt the Iran war and change policies they were unable to counter while in the minority. There is no Supreme Court vacancy today: the vow is about any seat that opens during the next two years, and it lands alongside separate reporting this week that the court's two oldest conservatives have given no indication they plan to retire.

The agenda: costs first, and investigations of ICE

Schumer said the party's agenda will centre on lowering prices, built around five issues Democrats focused on in the minority — healthcare, housing, Trump's tariffs, childcare and lowering energy bills. Democrats also want to investigate Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids across the country and scrutinise the Trump administration, which Schumer called the "most corrupted administration by far in American history." For immigrant families — including the Punjabi diaspora readers of this site, for whom ICE enforcement is a daily concern — a Senate majority pledging formal investigations of those raids is the part of this interview with the most direct consequences.

Getting any of that past the president is another matter. Schumer would not spell out how he plans to get around Trump, who on election night posted a picture of a red hat with the word "veto" in large letters. Nor would Schumer say whether he would try to eliminate the filibuster — the rule requiring 60 votes for most legislation — which he tried and failed to do when he was majority leader during President Joe Biden's term. "The focus has got to be on getting things done," he said. "That's all I am saying." He also predicted Republicans will suffer more losses "and keep following Trump over the cliff" if they refuse to work with Democrats in a bipartisan way — while acknowledging that, divided government or not, passing legislation will still require Republican support.

Impeachment: Hegseth yes, Trump "up to the House"

Asked whether he would support a third Trump impeachment — Trump was impeached and acquitted twice during his first term — Schumer said that was "up to the House." But he said he would support impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, an effort House lawmakers have already launched.

How the wins were built — and the leadership question that remains

Schumer, who first led his party's Senate campaign arm in the 2006 cycle, attributed this year's wins to candidate recruitment and a focus on local issues in Republican states: the effect of Trump's tariffs on farms in Iowa, where Democrat Josh Turek won; Trump's trade fight with Canada in Maine, where Democrat Troy Jackson beat Republican Senator Susan Collins; and data centres in Ohio, where former Senator Sherrod Brown won back the seat he lost two years ago to Republican Senator Bernie Moreno. The party's cost-of-living message, he said, "resonated everywhere" — "a big difference than in the past." Not every winner was his recruit: in Michigan, progressive Abdul El-Sayed beat Schumer's original choice, Haley Stevens, in the primary, but Schumer said he poured $67 million into that race to help El-Sayed and that the two "talk regularly."

Even so, Schumer's own future is not fully settled — the follow-on to this site's earlier report that Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen had withheld support for Schumer's return as majority leader. Van Hollen, a potential contender for the 2028 presidential nomination, told the AP on Wednesday that Democrats need an "open and honest discussion" about the next leader, and Vermont Senator Peter Welch said Schumer "has to adjust and open things up and take into account the criticism of our efforts." But Welch added there is no indication of a leadership challenge: "Schumer did an incredible job on this campaign." Schumer is expected to be re-elected leader by his caucus, is up for re-election to the Senate in 2028, and would not say whether he will run for a sixth term. "I'm focused on 2027," he said.